Sugar and Spice
by Drakulya
Summary: Gary's drunk. Misty finds him lying on her doorstep. Against her better judgement, she takes him in for the night, and the chaos begins... Funny fic, egoshipping. -Complete-
1. Mr Arrogance Incarnate

**Sugar and Spice**

**Summary:** Gary's drunk. Misty finds him lying on her doorstep. Against her better judgement, she takes him in for the night, and the chaos begins... Funny fic, egoshipping (i.e. GaryxMisty).

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Pokemon. I enjoy playing it though. :P

**A/N:** If you think about it, Gary/Misty is kinda like Draco/Hermione, but Pokenized. O.o Don't you think so? I mean, Gary and Draco are both arrogant, good-looking (not sure about Gary in this area, lol) and are rivals of the main character, and Misty and Hermione are both best friends of the main guy character. Oh well. I guess my brain is just drawn to that kind of pairings... -Babbles on-

xxxxxx

**Chapter One**

xxxxxx

Misty sighed as she sank into the hot water of her bath. Ahh, she loved baths. In her personal opinion, it was the highlight of a girl's day. That, and her daily cup of coffee.

As usual, it had been a hard afternoon, battling it out with several young trainers hoping to gain the Cascade Badge from her. Each hoped to become the world's greatest Pokemon trainer - she chuckled when she thought of Ash - yet only one managed to get close to beating her. Which meant today, _no_body got the Cerulean City badge.

Kids these days. Each had high hopes and dreams, yet none seemed to be treating or training their pokemon well enough to achieve them. Again, Ash crossed her mind. He had been one of those kids, and now he was the Champion of every region he went to. The latest was Hoenn. Ash'd sweeped all the Gym Leaders and added a new collection of shiny badges to his collection. Misty smiled. That was Ash for you. He probably wouldn't have come back without them, anyway.

Another thought niggled at the back of her mind. _Sure, Ash's got all the badges, but Gary Oak can actually beat him on a good day. Not something most other people can boast about. _"And why do _I_ care about what Gary can do?" she said loudly, and then looked around nervously as she quickly covered her mouth. "Whoops. That came out a bit too loud," she murmured to herself.

_BANG._

Misty jumped and let out a small squeak of shock. The noise seemed to come from her front door, and though she was curious, she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to answer that kind of 'knock'. Nevertheless, her friendly side won over the silent debate in her head and she rose out of the water, grabbing a bath towel from the nearby rack and wrapping it around herself. Misty searched for a small towel to wrap up her hair, but couldn't find any and left it down.

"Coming!" she called as whoever it was banged on the door again. "Have some _patience_, will you?" she snarled as she flung the wooden door open. "And there _is_ such thing as a doorb- whoa!"

For at that moment, someone with _very_ familiar spiky, brown hair lunged at her and collapsed into her shoulder. "Urgh..."

"AAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

xxxxxx

10 minutes and several hasty explanations to pissed-off neighbors later, Misty shut the door on the last one (a balding old man who exclaimed she'd interrupted his beauty sleep). She sighed - the second time tonight, though this one had a very different meaning to it. Glancing into the living room, she was about to go back to her bath when he spoke.

"Th... thanks for (hic) taking me in (hic), May..."

Misty saw red. "I'm _Misty_, for God's sake!" she yelled at him. "Sheesh, we don't look _anything_ alike! How can you mistake us?" Then, she remembered his behavior and how his breath smelled like alcohol and a faint tinge of mint to round it up. It wasn't a disgustingly strong smell of beer and wine, but it was enough to let her know he wasn't exactly sober. "Oh, never mind. I'll get you a blanket and you can sleep on the couch." A part of her was a recoiled at having Gary Oak touch her sofa, but the sensible part of her brain dismissed it and she went to fetch a spare blanket.

She hadn't seen him for a while now. The last time she'd caught sight of him was when Ash came back from Hoenn and they'd had a bit of a get-together. Nothing wild, just a small party. After that they'd mostly gone their separate ways, though half of their friends still lived in this area and were only a short journey away.

When she came back, Gary was already snoring lightly. _At least he doesn't snore like Ash,_ she thought with a degree of relief. Misty quietly tiptoed over, adjusted her towel hastily to make sure it completely covered everything that needed to be covered (in case he woke up), and placed the blanket over his comatose body. She smiled, in spite of herself, when she saw his sleeping face. He almost looked unarrogant - nothing like the boastful jerk he was when he was awake. His mouth was slightly open and his arms twitched occasionally.

"... (snore) Umbreon... I choose... (snore) you..."

Misty couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips. He even dreamed about Pokemon! Looks like he was more similar to Ash than any of them cared to admit. She exited the room quietly and went back to the bathroom. She dipped a finger into the water and drew it back slowly. It was only lukewarm. She muttered angrily under her breath about idiotic men getting drunk and wasting her time, and got changed.

She hadn't meant to let him in. At first, when she realized who it was, she threw him out and slammed the door. Then she started to feel guilty and eventually, opened it again. Amazingly enough, he was still there, along with a crowd of elderly neighbors who demanded to know why on earth she was screaming near the middle of the night, and who was this sack of a boy lying here? She answered their questions as civilly as she could muster, and dragged him in when one woman started preaching to her about how everyone should be Good Samaritans and take in those in need. Misty had resisted the urge to ask her if _she_ could take Gary in, but bit her tongue to stop herself.

Again, Gary had propped himself onto her automatically and dozed on her shoulder. She was greatly embarrassed and didn't hesitate to push him off, albeit nicely due to that granny's steel gaze.

And so, there he was, sleeping off the alcohol in her living room on her leather couches. She scowled and headed towards her bedroom, hoping Gary wouldn't cause too much of a hassle when he got the killer hangover the next morning.

Personally, Misty never drank, and if she was in danger of ending up like Gary was right now, camping out at someone-she-didn't-like-very-much's house, then she never would. Still scowling, she slipped into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, trying to ignore the radiating male presence in her house.

xxxxxx

"Oh, God." Gary swore as he lifted his head from the sofa armrest, his neck cramped due to sleeping with his neck twisted to the side all night. But the most important thing was his throbbing head. He hadn't drunk _that_ much last night; it was only a few shots of whisky, and a couple of bottles of beers, and a few glasses of...

Never mind.

He slapped at his forehead, which didn't help the migraine/hangover at all. Instead, it magnified and he clutched at his head, moaning in pain.

"That's what you get for drinking so much," a crisp voice informed him. He glanced up and saw, with shock, Misty's face. "Next time, exercise some self-control, will you?"

Gary looked around wildly, his hangover forgotten. This wasn't his room! In fact, it wasn't even his house. Plus, Misty was there. Which meant... "Hell... Misty, don't tell me this is your home."

She folded her arms. "And what if it is? You didn't expect me to find you piled on my doorstep and then get a chaffeur to drive you home, did you? 'cos if you did, you're going to be _very_ disappointed."

Yup, it was Misty alright. No kidnappers wearing masks or hallucinations there. Her attitude with him was well-known amongst their circle, and the way she behaved towards him was something hard to imitate. She had always been a bit bitter towards him. Maybe she realized, and was jealous of, his ability. Gary smirked, feeling satisfied.

Unfortunately, his satisfaction didn't last long as Misty grabbed a cushion and smacked his face, hard, with it. "Ouch!" he yelped, clutching where she'd hit him. "What was that for?"

"Stop sitting there and smirking your face off! I want you out of my house before the end of the day. Any longer, and I'll _kick_ you out myself. Literally." She glared at him, her hair still a bit untidy from sleeping with it wet.

Gary reluctantly admitted that she looked good with her hair down rather than in a ponytail. OK, _really _good. He stood up, feeling queasy, and wobbled. He nearly fell into the coffee table - thankfully he didn't, or he'd have a very sore kneecap along with his head. Finally, he made it to the bathroom without collapsing or getting any bruises from random crashes, and threw up into the toilet bowl.

When he felt better, he flushed and went to the sink. Judging by the reflection in the mirror, he didn't look nearly as good as normal. His brown hair, normally spiky, was in tufts and his face was a pasty color. Gary made a face and washed and rinsed his mouth with cold water. More water went to slick back his hair a bit. It didn't go with his face as well as spikes, but it would do for now, until he found some gel or went home. Hopefully the former would be first.

He staggered out of the bathroom after spraying it with an unnecessary amount of air freshener, his nose clogged with the overpowering smell. Misty was vacuuming the living room. He scowled. It wasn't as if he was a hobo or something - there was no need for so much cleaning. Gary wouldn't be surprised if she started disinfecting the sofa he'd slept on.

He nearly fell over as she brought out a bottle of disinfectant and squizzed some on the couch.

"What's _with_ you?" he yelled. "God, you're such a freak!"

She glared at him. "Well, if you don't like what I'm doing, get out," she hissed, then hmphed at him. She hoped that he'd get the hint and leave immediately.

Gary smirked. "Wanting me out already? Well, I'm not going to make it _this_ easy for you to chase me away. I've gotta repay you for letting me stay the night... and for fixing me breakfast... and not kicking me out when you could have."

Misty paled. "You are _not_ staying any longer than necessary in my house," she said, looking a tad bit frightened. "And necessary is after you've had breakfast! On second thoughts, you'd better not eat and then throw up all over the place, or I'll be billing the carpet-cleaning bills to you in full."

"No longer than necessary?" He faked a cough. "Oh, I think I've got the flu. Looks like the blankets you put over me last night had no effect at all. But it did give me a nice view of your-" A cushion flew towards him and struck him on the chin.

"You- you _pervert_!" she yelled, blushing.

"... nostrils." He smirked. "What were _you_ thinking of?"

She was making this way too easy for him. "I was just thinking about how I should call the police to arrest you for unwanted trespassing," she snarled, her hands on her hips.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Unwanted? You treated me pretty good for an unwanted trespasser."

"As much as it may seem otherwise, I really do _not_ enjoy having you here."

"So says the girl who let me spend a night at her place without anyone else around. That's just asking for molestation - if I was into that kind of stuff."

This was getting on her nerves. "Whatever... just get out. Now."

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because- because I'll get my pokemon to blast you all the way to Hoenn, that's why!" she shot at him. "And don't think I wouldn't!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like a little bit of water's going to scare me. Pfft."

"A little water? A _little_ water? I'll show you a _little_ water!" Misty screeched and was about to summon her Seadra, when she realized her pokeballs were all in the gym. She froze and felt around her waist, just in case she carried one back home. "..."

"You were saying...?" Gary said, raising an eyebrow. He fingered his own belt, complete with 6 small red pokeballs.

Misty turned away, fuming. God. He always had that effect on her - making her feel more angry than if somebody called her carrot-head. And it seemed as though he was the only one who could make her this mad. "Well, whatever. Just go."

He headed towards the kitchen. "Hey-! I haven't even had breakfast yet," he complained, rubbing his stomach. "You won't deny me that much, would you?" Gary took his jacket from where it was on the back of the couch, and smiled at her wickedly as if to say, _You can't get rid of me that easily. _

"For God's sake - just get out of my sight!" She threw one last cushion at him, and it bounced harmlessly off the door as he shut it quickly. Misty sighed, and finished cleaning up the lounge. What a way to start the weekend. And if May, or any of her other friends came by... what would they think? Ash would throw a fit and her dreams of ever getting together with him would fizzle away. Her cheeks pinked at the thought. Everyone said they made a great couple, but it seemed that Ash never really saw her, or acted towards her, as anything more than his best friend.

Shaking her head, Misty walked slowly - very slowly - to the kitchen, to again greet Mr. Arrogance Incarnate.

xxxxx

You know the drill... Good? Bad? Delete? Hopefully none of you will suggest the last option... it's not _that_ bad, is it? o.o Anyway, it's my first Gary/Misty, so be nice!


	2. Assumptions and an Unpleasant Surprise

**Sugar and Spice**

**A/N: **Wow, I didn't expect this many reviews for a Pokemon fic - and an Egoshipping one, at that! Thank you to everyone who left a comment, I hope you'll continue to enjoy this story. I know I'll definitely have lots of fun writing it. :D

xxxxxx

**Chapter Two**

xxxxxx

Misty sat opposite the table to her intruder from last night, sipping her coffee as she glared at him with venom in her eyes. Gary seemed oblivious to her hostility as he sat, munching on the croissant she'd spared him. "I think this is kinda stale," he commented as he bit, wrinkling his nose.

"You'll eat what I give you, and no complaints," she hissed between gritted teeth, banging down her cup and sloshing out a bit of the drink inside.

Gary raised an eyebrow mid-bite. "Whoa. Anger management," he said, amused.

"I do _not_ have anger issues!" she yelled, then realized how angry she _did_ sound. "OK, maybe a little bit. But that's all your fault! If you didn't come staggering to my house in the middle of the night I wouldn't be so stressed as to shout at you." She hmphed and folded her arms, admitting reluctantly that she was being unnecessarily rude. Gary stared at her and she averted her gaze, turning red. "Sorry," she muttered, and was saved from seeing his face by sloshing down the rest of her coffee. Misty slowly stood and went into the kitchen to wash up.

Moments later, she was joined by Gary, who put his plate in the sink with a light 'clack' and motioned for her to pass him a tissue. She did so and watched him wipe crumbs away from his mouth, staring involuntarily at his lips. He caught her looking and smirked. She turned away quickly, scolding herself for staring at _him_ of all people, and scrubbed at the cup she was holding vigorously.

"If you're not careful, you'll break that," he provided helpfully, flashing her an innocent smile.

She snarled at him and told him to get ready to leave, sighing when he left. Finally. After enduring a nightmare last night about how her friends would arrive at her door just as he was leaving and yelling out to the whole world - literally - that Gary had spent the night at Misty's. Then Ash started sobbing and banging the ground, while May handed him tissues as he blew his nose. Suddenly they were all wearing formal clothing and everyone was saying what a lovely bride she'd make, and Misty screamed when she looked down and found herself in a wedding dress, with Gary advancing towards her...

That was where she woke up. And thank goodness she did, or she'd probably scare the neighbours into calling the police.

But even though she classified the dream as a nightmare, she could still feel the heat on her face when she awoke. Gary had looked so good in a tuxedo, as much as she disliked him. She couldn't deny that much...

"Let's not go there," she muttered to herself as she dried the last plate and stacked it in the tray.

xxxxxx

Gary wasn't quite sure about how Misty was taking his intrusion. Most of the time she was completely pissed off with him, other times she seemed almost civil. Then again her anger was reasonable, as _he'd_ been the one who had crawled to her home in the middle of the night, burbling drunkenly. Add that onto the fact that they were never best friends to begin with, and you get a very mad woman who had just yelled at him to leave the house.

Well, he couldn't exactly help it. His friends had been having a 'it's-the-weekend-woot-let's-party' party and he didn't want to miss out on a good time. Once he realized the person who had taken him there was _busy_ with some chick, he'd left, telling the host that he was perfectly sober and could get home himself. Which he did, in a way - except the home he got to wasn't his own.

He sighed, checked his belt for all his pokeballs and walked slowly past the bathroom to the door. He stopped. Wait... while he was here, he might as well take a shower since he smelled like booze and smoke. Hopefully Misty wouldn't mind too much. He was sure she'd rather he use her bathroom for a moment rather than have him pollute her home with the smell of alcohol. Gary stepped in quickly and turned on the shower tap on to cold. He didn't want her waving a hot water bill under his nose anytime soon.

xxxxxx

Where does a whole morning of coffee go after half an hour? Misty was pretty sure she knew the answer as she rushed through the house, desperately seeking the toilet. Her stomach gurgled ominously and she started running faster. When she was in sight of the door she sighed in relief; and pushed it open.

The first thing that occured to her was that it was oddly noisy in there. Did she leave the shower running? No... last night she hadn't even had a shower. Fearing the worst she turned slowly, bladder forgotten, to the noise of running water. The curtain didn't move but from the light she could see a dark shape inside. She stared. _It better not be Gary in there. Or I'll kill him. No, that's a little extreme. Maybe I'll just force him to pay the water bill._

While she thought these vicious thoughts, the water stopped and there was silence for a moment before the curtain opened.

And Gary stepped out - not fully clothed, not even half naked, but _completely_ naked. Misty stared at him. And screamed, for the second time in less than 12 hours. "_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

xxxxxx

"Misty!" Gary yelled, pounding on the bathroom door. "Misty, can I please come in for just a moment?"

"OF COURSE NOT!" she shouted back. "How stupid do you think I am? First you take a shower without my permission, and now you probably want to excrete in _my_ toilet! Go away! Just get lost!"

He suppressed a laugh. Excrete in her toilet? Interesting choice of words. She was still as fiesty and angry as ever, just like how he remembered her. Unfortunately, even though she was now an adult she still hadn't filled out that well... in the chest department. "I want to get my clothes, you idiot. There are toilets everywhere. What makes you think yours is special and that everyone wants to shit in it?"

There was silence for several minutes, in which Gary stood in the hallway, shivering with cold. Then suddenly, the door opened and his clothes were thrown in his face. As he tried to pry them off his head he was dragged roughly somewhere. The cold suddenly got a lot worse and when he could finally see his surroundings, he realized he was outside. And butt-naked, at that. People passing by stared at him and then turned away quickly, faces red. Misty emerged a moment later and dumped the rest of his clothes on him. "Happy now?" she snarled, and slammed the door.

"Gary?" A female voice said, sounding surprised. He looked back at the door as he started putting on his boxers, annoyed at Misty's mood swings. What was with the cute and inquisitive voice all of a sudden? She always either roared or snarled/spat/hissed at him. 'Cute' was _not_ a tone of voice she ever used with him. Ash maybe, but not him.

The door was closed. Gary looked around, confused. A figure from the pavement came up to the doorway and he finally realized who had spoken. "May?"

The girl beamed at him. "Hey, Gary! Long time no see." She giggled. "What're you doing naked out here on Misty's doorstep? Wait... don't tell me you two got together?" He didn't have time to explain before May dragged him up and rang the doorbell. "Miiiisty! It's me, May!"

There was sounds of Misty unbolting and unlocking the door (Gary was offended - it wasn't as if he was a rapist or something). She beamed when she saw May but her face turned to an expression of horror and anger when she saw who was beside her friend. "M-May? What are you doing with that bastard?"

May looked sympathetic as she shook her head, and pushed past a shocked Misty with Gary in tow. "It's alright, Misty... he musta hurt you bad for you to kick him out like that! But before you guys break up for good, let's talk about it, should we?"

"No, we shouldn't!" Misty yelled, pulling on Gary's free arm. "You're going back outside, mister, and you're gonna stay there." She tugged as hard as he could while her best friend pulled in the other direction, gritting her teeth and grimacing. The poor boy stuck in the middle bit back a scream and pulled his arm out of the looser - but not by much - grip. Misty stumbled back before quickly regaining her balance and composure, her eyes flaming dangerously.

"Aw, Misty. Come on," the other young woman urged with a smile plastered on her face, clearly looking forward to the couple-counselling session that would follow. Gary was dragged into the living room once again and Misty reluctantly followed, glaring at him whenever he turned his helpless gaze towards her. _No help from either side, I guess,_ he thought, sighing inwardly. _Misty hates me and May is determined to pull my arm off. What crazy people they have become. Were they always this bad? Hmmm, maybe they were. I've probably been around normal people for so long I've forgotten about the personalities of people around here. _

The three sat down on the couches. Gary rubbed his sore arm and cursed under his breath for being dragged into this situation. Misty sat next to him, shifting as far away from the man as possible while folding her arms and keeping an annoyed expression on her face. May sat on the opposite side on an armchair, and assumed the position of the therapist. "Soo... Misty, you never told me you were getting together with Gary! And I'm your best friend, too," she added with a hurt tone.

"May, I would have told you if I was getting together with anyone."

"But you didn't tell me about him?"

Misty sighed. "We are NOT together. He just burst into my door last night and went all over me."

"Will you quit giving me the description of a rapist?" Gary snapped, turning towards her sharply. "From what you've said anyone would assume that I was sober at the time. Which I was not."

"Ah, so you drunkenly staggered to your ex-girlfriend's house and started molesting her?" May's eyes were shining with an unearthly glimmer; she was obviously enjoying this. "Gary, you're so forward! No offence, but I can see why Misty dumped you. No girl likes a guy whose first actions inside her house is trying to bed her."

Gary and Misty yelled out at the same time, "I told you, we were never together-"

"I did _not_ try to sleep with her-"

May smiled in a motherly way at both of them. "Misty - I know you don't want anyone to know about your fling with Gary, but you don't have to cover it up so fiercely. Hey, I should at least know about it, right? You can trust me. Gary... don't worry about it, I'm sure there are lots of other horny guys in the world who have done what you did. And it's completely natural for a guy to act upon his animal instincts, you know... we humans are, in a way, animals! But next time I do suggest you control yourself a little and wait until both parties are happy before you go ahead with your emotions..."

Gary shook his head as he got dressed. Listening to May giving him a talk about male nature wasn't something he was prepared to spend his precious time on. He had _way_ better things to do. Like go see how his stored pokemon are doing. He usually didn't perform this task but since he had come back only a few days ago he thought he might as well. "Well, thanks for the lecture, May. Like I needed it." He walked out to the front door and paused when Misty appeared in the doorway behind him, looking surprised. "Don't expect me to give you a huge thanks for letting me stay, Misty. The headache your friend just caused me evens us out."

She folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you."

He smirked and opened the door. "Thanks."

Misty watched him leave her house, and let out a breath she'd been unconsciously holding. Finally. He was gone. Behind her, she could hear May standing up and she turned around. "He's gone. About time, too."

"He left without even listening to my whole talk," May said, offended. Then she narrowed her eyes at Misty. "You don't look like someone who's glad their ex-boyfriend left."

"_May_! He's _not_ my ex!" Misty shouted, blushing. "He's my... _nothing_!"

Her best friend patted her shoulder, grinning wickedly. "That might what he is right now. But trust me, Misty, soon you'll be wishing he's back. I can tell by your face."

Misty groaned. "May..."

"OK, OK. Before I forget, I'd better tell you something. I think you'll like it." She winked. "Next Saturday, you, me and Ash are going to an amusement park for the day. I got free tickets from work."

"You're amazing," Misty grinned widely. Her heart thumped painfully at the prospect of going to an amusement park with Ash... which was practically a date, right? _Well, May'll be there, but she would probably just leave us two alone while she goes on the neverending quest to buy candy floss. _"What time?"

May held up a finger. "Nuh uh. There's a catch."

"I might have guessed," the redhead complained in a defeated voice, sitting down on the leather armchair May had been on a few minutes ago. "What is it?"

"There's an extra ticket. And I want you to give it to Gary."

**xxxxxx**

How did you like that? I haven't watched Pokemon since who knows when, so if my statistics are a little off, please tell me. And because of my lack of knowledge of what happened when in Pokemon, I'll try to keep my reference to events to as little as possible. So most of this fic will revolve around either simple Pokemon stuff or non-Pokemon related happenings.

Please tell me what you thought of this. I love getting feedback. (Who doesn't? XD) And I promise the next chapter will be longer. :D


	3. A Deal and the Consequence

**Sugar and Spice**

**A/N: **An important note here first of all: Washy in the nickname Ashy Washy rhymes with Ashy. Not wash-y. That would just sound stupid. Well right now you probably think I'm nuts but this little explanation is essential for you readers not to dwell on the oddness of 'Ashy Washy'.

Now that's over and done with... thank you again for the reviews, everyone. :D -Hugs tightly until you choke- Please enjoy yourselves!

xxxxxx

**Chapter Three**

xxxxxx

Misty's jaw, as if on cue, dropped open. Just as expected. After all, the guy had spent a night in her home and hadn't exactly left fond memories. May's smirk grew wider and wider until it couldn't possibly widen anymore without her looking ridiculous. "So how about it? I set you up for a 'date' with Ashy Washy and you invite Gary. Think of it as a challenge... and a chance to make Ash jealous."

The last part got her thinking. "Hmm. I'll consider it."

"OK, don't forget your sunscreen next Saturday! It's summer and the sun'll be blistering hot, I'm sure of it." May beamed and gave her friend a hug.

"I didn't even say whether I'd go or not!" Misty said, outraged. "There's still a 50 percent chance I won't go! Wait... make that 30 percent."

The brunette laughed. "Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that, Misty. That, and the phrase 'I am going to miss out on a date with Ash if I don't invite Gary'." She headed out the door with one last wink at her best friend. "Cya later, Misty. Think about it, won't you?"

Misty poked her tongue out at the closing door and turned her gaze to the tickets in her hand. It _was_ a golden opportunity to have a good time with Ash again... she hadn't spent time with him for a long, _long_ time. Ignore the stupid task of having to force Gary to go, and it would be lots of fun. That is, if the aforementioned jerk didn't ruin it...

It was gonna be a tough decision. But like May had predicted, Misty already had a feeling that she would end up going anyway, even if she had to invite Gary first.

The problem was, she didn't know where he lived. And how he would react to seeing her after she kicked him out of the house, naked. Oh well... it was a hurdle she'd jump once she came to it. After all, it couldn't be that tough - she'd suspected Gary had some kind of feelings for May after he mistook Misty for her in his drunken stupor. Then again, who knew if he meant May as in his sister or May as in her best friend?

She sighed and rubbed her temples. It was going to be a looooonng week.

xxxxxx

Gary walked up the last few steps to his grandfather's Pokemon lab and knocked brazenly on the door. Looking at the closed door gave him some bitter memories; i.e. an hour ago, when Misty had locked him out without his clothes on. But he was firmly pushing that to the back closet of his mind - it wasn't something he would like to look back on in the future. The sooner he forgot about that humiliating experience, the better.

"Who's there?" Professor Oak opened the door, and did a double take. "Gary, my boy? It's really you?"

He let his grandfather tug at his hair and straighten his clothes before speaking. "Yeah. Hi, gramps. Long time no see. How's my Pokemon doing?"

Professor Oak scowled. "You could at least pretend that you came back to see how _I_ was doing, not your Pokemon. But then again, you were never one for pretense, were you?" He lead Gary into the house, closing the door behind him. "Sit down, sit down. I'll bring your Pokemon out. Or do you want to come with me?"

"I'll come." He nodded and followed the professor out a back door and into a lush garden. Pokemon were everywhere; some dozed peacefully in the shade, while others chased each other around and had mock fights. He'd already spotted several of his own by the time they had stepped through the gate, and they had all come to greet him warmly in the way only Pokemon could. It made him feel like all those hard years of capturing and training Pokemon had been worth the trouble and hard work.

Of course, it also made him feel better being one of the top trainers in the world. Even if he had to occasionally acknowledge - grudgingly - that Ash Ketchum was a better Pokemon trainer than he was, at times. Heavy emphasis on the phrase _at times_, because when he was at his best he could beat Ash by a long margin. On those days he always treated himself for his triumph.

"I see you've already found some of your Pokemon," Professor Oak said, smiling at the picture-perfect scene of his handsome young grandson surrounded by a group of his own Pokemon, who clearly all adored him. "Let's find the rest, shall we?"

Browsing through his grandfather's Pokemon haven made Gary feel much better after his hysterical morning. The peaceful scenery combined with the delicious aroma of the plants (specially planted for their calming properties) made him feel a little drowsy and incredibly happy. It wasn't something he felt often but he liked it. He had lots of Pokemon stored here and it took all day to find each and every one of them, especially the more reclusive ones. Professor Oak suggested he let out his other 6 Pokemon so they could get some fresh air, and Gary took his advice. The 6 he was training at the moment were zapped out of their Pokeballs and immediately ran off to find others of the same species or just running for the sake of it.

In the afternoon, once Gary was satisfied that all his Pokemon still knew him and weren't overfed (sometimes his grandfather could get a little too generous with the Pokemon food), they went back inside the house. "So how have you been?" the professor asked, pouring tea for them both before placing the teapot on the table, already laden with books about caring for Pokemon and making delicious Pokemon food.

Gary took a cookie from the plate and bit into it. "Same as always," he said, chewing thoughtfully as he recalled his journey. "I went to some new places... Rhine Cave, that new place they discovered a couple of weeks ago. I haven't found any new Pokemon there but I'm sure there must be at least one undiscovered species in there. It's pretty remote and the place is huge. It'd be easy for some ancient Pokemon to live there, undisturbed by human society."

"Right, right. I see you've given a lot of thought to it." The older man glanced at his grandson over the rim of his cup. He seemed so much more mature than the arrogant, cocky boy who thought he was the best at everything a few years ago. Of course, streaks of his arrogance still remained but his ego wasn't nearly as bloated as it was before. He seemed like... an adult. And the professor was glad for him. The bigger your ego, the more humiliated you'll be when someone pops it. "So when did you get back here?"

He did some quick excuse-thinking in his mind as he lifted his head slowly and smiled. "Oh, about... two days ago. I camped out at my friend's place but I'm moving back to my own apartment tomorrow. I don't have much luggage so it'll be pretty simple."

Professor Oak nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer. "That's good. Make sure you get someone to clean the place up before you move in. It's bound to be dusty in there - after all, you haven't been back for months." He drained his cup and placed it back on the table. "So... have you been anywhere since you were back? Tried battling Ash yet? Have you visited all your old friends?"

"Er... I haven't bumped into him yet, but I have met up with some old... friends." He plastered a smile on his face as his mind drifted back to last night. _Oh great. Just when I'd nearly pushed it out of my head, too. _Now the memories were fresh again. But then, it _had_ only been 12 hours since he last saw Misty, and 12 hours wasn't exactly enough time to forget something like _that_.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find Ash soon. And remember, you don't _have_ to have a battle with him - a friendly outing with you two and your friends wouldn't harm either of you." The professor stood up and smiled kindly down at him.

_Friendly outing? Don't make me puke,_ Gary thought, grimacing. _Since when did he and I get close enough to do _that? But he didn't voice his opinions aloud, and instead stared moodily at the empty bottom of his cup until his grandfather pried it away.

xxxxxx

Three days passed and Misty still hadn't worked up the courage to ask anyone where Gary might live. She vaguely recalled that he lived alone, in some apartment, but there were lots and lots of apartments in the area. It was hardly a good place to start. _Maybe I should just not go. It would save a lot of trouble, _she considered. But the idea of going on a date with Ash made her very nervous and excited, and she decided nothing was worth missing out on it. _OK... maybe I should have stuck to my original plan of phoning May. I'm sure she'd know his address - provided he hadn't changed it. _Her fingers reached for the phone and she grabbed the receiver, before rapidly dialling the number she knew so well.

"May? It's me."

"_Heya. Invited our star guest yet?_"

"No. I don't even know his address or phone number. Do you have one of them? Or even better, both of them?"

"_Hahah, so you've wised up after all! Let me check, I'm sure I had his address here somewhere..._" There was the sound of rustling papers. "_Hmmm... Gabrielle... Genna... Gary. Aha! Here, it's 45C Hurricane Ave. Check your map, that's all I have about him._"

"Alright. Thanks, May, your phonebook has been a great help. See you later."

"_Yeah, see you on Saturday. In case I forget to tell you later, it's 9am in the morning. The address is on the ticket I gave you. I'll be expecting you at the park by 8:30 to, you know, line up and all._"

Misty smiled. "OK, OK. If you say so. Bye." She hung up, and stared at the address she'd scrawled down on a piece of paper. Well, if she was going to look for 45C Hurricane Ave, she might as well start now.

xxxxxx

Half an hour later, with her trusty roadmap in her hand, Misty got on her bike and started riding towards Gary's apartment. All along the way she hoped that the address was valid; that she didn't accidentally come across some old lady who would chase her away with a cold turkey. She had to trust May's info... after all, it was all the lead she had.

She turned into Hurricane Ave, relieved that she had been in the right direction after all, and looked for 45C. It took a few more minutes of pedalling before she finally stopped in front of the impressive-looking apartment that was supposed to be Gary's. Parking her bike in the shade, she walked dreadingly up the stairs until she stood directly in front of the door of the C apartment. _Gulp. This is it. _She would just tell him about it, give him the ticket and leave. It would only be a matter of seconds if she said everything fast enough. She glanced at her watch. 7pm exactly. If she hurried she could be home by 8pm and be in time to watch the cooking program she always watched and attempted half-heartedly to imitate.

And why on earth was she this nervous anyway? It was just Gary. Cocky, self-assured Gary who had spent a night in her home and had made his presence felt the next morning too. She wasn't this flustered _then_; so why was she now? Shaking her head, she rang the doorbell and composed herself.

Severals rings followed the first. She frowned. He wasn't home? She rang a few more times. Then kicked at the door. The noise was loud enough to wake the dead and she could hear people stirring from downstairs. Uh oh. She didn't want people reporting her to the police.

But she also didn't want to go home. It had taken her her an hour to find her way here and she wasn't about to waste another 2 hours going back and then coming here again. Besides, she had plenty of time; she could wait. _Stupid Gary. He'd better be back soon or I'll strangle him myself. _With that thought in mind, Misty sat down on the cold concrete ground and waited patiently for Gary's return.

xxxxxx

It was another busy day at the lab. People came and went; Gary took over as the temporary Professor Oak and advised people on what they wanted to know. The citizens here all knew him and his skill with Pokemon, and trusted him enough to follow his tips and suggestions. By the end of the day he was dead tired and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. He envied his grandfather, who had spent the day checking up on the Pokemon (which was why he was taking over in the first place) and generally lazing about. "Hey, gramps," he called as he packed his bags. "I'm going back to my place. See you tomorrow."

"OK! Be careful out there, it's getting dark. Don't get run over!" was the reply he got. _Talk about pessimistic,_ he thought with a cross between a grin and grimace on his face and shut the front door behind him.

It _was_ starting to get dark. Ominous clouds were gathering overhead, casting gloomy shadows and showing every sign that it was about to rain. And just as expected, large raindrops started splattering on his head as he ran down his street and down his driveway. Dashing up the stairs, he was surprised to see someone slumped against his front door. The bright orange hair told him exactly who it was in one glance. _What's Misty doing here? _

_Maybe she came to apologize for her behavior last time,_ a part of his mind thought. Another part countered sceptically almost at the same time. _Nah, no way she'd be that civil to me. _

She seemed asleep. He nudged her gently with his foot and she didn't budge. Her hair was wet, plastered to her face like when he first saw her after he crashed into her house. Except this time, it was _his_ house she was at. And the rain was so heavy it was unlikely she would be able to get back at the moment. He groaned as the meaning of that sentence dawned on him. It was his turn to play host. "Misty, wake up." He bent down and shook her shoulders violently. Her emerald eyes fluttered open and she sneezed. He realized she was shivering. "Can you stand?"

The redhead shivered harder. Gary took that as a no.

He considered his options. Either leave her here and risk her wrath or her death from hypothermia, or take her in and warm her up somehow. _No, I am_ not _warming her up _that_ way,_ he told the perverted part of his mind viciously. After a mind struggle that lasted all of a millisecond, he sighed and opened his door, then half-dragged the shivering girl inside. The apartment was a toasty change from the freezing cold outside; he took her into the bathroom and she grabbed onto the towel rack, slowly steadying herself. "Th-th-thanks," she stuttered. "I-I was w-waiting f-for you t-t-to come ba-back, you id-id-idiot." She glared at him, but it was a weak one compared to her normal glare.

He threw her a large towel. "Take a shower and then dry yourself. Put your clothes in the laundry basket and I can dry them for you once you're done washing up." He glanced at her, and smirked. "If that towel's not long enough for your tastes, there's more over there." He shut the door and could hear her fumbling around. Finally, the sound of water hitting the ground filled his ears and he headed towards the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for his 'guest'.

What had she meant, she was waiting for him? They weren't exactly best of friends and Gary saw no reason why she'd be sitting out in the cold in front of his door. Judging by her condition she must have fallen asleep there, meaning she was waiting for hours. That or she was a very deep sleeper who fell asleep quickly in any situation.

15 minutes later, Misty appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. Gary turned and saw, with some degree of disappointment, that she had picked the longest towel he had in his limited possession. The only good thing was that even this towel was miniskirt-length when it was wrapped around someone. Her face was flushed and her eyes lit up when she saw what he was making. "Oooh, hot cocoa," she exclaimed, and accepted the cup he handed her. "Thanks, Gary. After this I might even forgive you for making me wait for so long."

"What _were_ you waiting for, anyway?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Misty responded by handing him something in her hand. Gary looked at it and saw the heading 'Free pass to Wonderland Amusement Park!' in big bold letters. He frowned in confusion. "So... you're giving me a free pass to an amusement park? Er, thanks a lot."

She shook her head. "Not just _you_. May, Ash and I are going too. Think of it as a friendly outing."

It looked as though Professor Oak's prediction was coming true. _Friendly outing with Ash, Misty and May, huh? Can't be too bad... but since when did I mingle with _those_ people?_

_A free pass is a free pass,_ his economical side whispered seductively.

"You too, huh? And Ash?" He grimaced. Where there was Misty and Ash, there would be lots of unaware flirting going on. Those two were nearly best friends, and it was so obvious that they liked each other. Sometimes it was a little vomit-worthy, watching them talk with each other in the way that people who are friends with, but also have a crush on, the other person do.

"What's wrong with Ash coming?" she challenged, a slight blush rising to her cheeks. She finished the hot chocolate and put it to one side, and folded her arms across her chest in an action that both showed defiance and kept the towel from falling off.

He flapped a hand, not wanting to start another argument. He was exhausted and there was nothing he wanted more than to go to sleep. "Oh, nothing. So what are you going to do now? Your clothes are still far from being dry and it's nearly 10pm."

Her face started to turn pink. "Uhhmmm... don't you have a couch here or something?"

"It's a studio apartment, Misty. Meaning it only has one room. Notice that the TV is in my room and the only thing you could sit on other than my bed is two armchairs. Which, I assure you, won't be very nice to sleep on." He started to smirk when he noticed her discomfort.

"I never said I was going to stay over - unlike _some_ people did," she declared, giving him a snotty look (not literally, of course). "How long will it take for my clothes to dry? You said you would dry them for me. I can wait. I don't really feel that sleepy." She said the last part with a straight face as she struggled to cover up a yawn.

He rolled his eyes. "I don't exactly have my own dryer here, you know. Usually I hang my clothes out. But since there's no sun it'll take a long time for your stuff to be wearably dry."

There was silence, in which Misty's mind ticked almost audibly. She had a nervous lump in her throat and she was starting to get cold. There was no heating in the room apart from the light, which wasn't exactly what you'd call a heat source. And she doubted he would spend money on central heating if he was away from here as often as he was. But anything would be better than spending hours sitting here, waiting for her clothes to dry and then riding home on her sopping wet bike in the rain. What to do...

Finally, she came to a conclusion. Gary gave her an expectant look when she cleared her throat loudly.

"Well, at least your bed is a double size."

**xxxxxx**

... and what happens next is up to you. ;P I won't be saying what exactly happened during the night but it's nothing... er... dirty, I promise you. Think lots of awkward twisting and turning and blanket-stealing and you'll get the general picture. Oh, and add in the facts that Misty tends to be a sprawler when it comes to sleeping, and that a normal double bed isn't really quite big enough for two adults... XD Well you get the idea.

I assure you that their friends will be _very_ amazed if they ever hear about it... hehe.

Review and I update sooner! -Evil laugh-


	4. An Agreement and Snoring

**Sugar and Spice**

**A/N: **Wheeeee- wow. It's been nearly 3 whole months since I last updated this. -Whistles- I've missed the fun of writing this...

Exams in a few days... T.T However we'll be getting an extra couple of days off after that, so I'll be writing more. Hopefully. (Isn't that what I always say? -.-) Holidays are in about a month or so, meaning more time to write! Yay! Man, stupid school is throwing so much homework at me... add that with writer's block and you get a bad bad author who doesn't update nearly enough.

xxxxxx

**Chapter Four  
**

xxxxxx

It hadn't been a pleasant night for either of them, to say the least. Misty, deprived of the space she usually had to sprawl over on her queen sized bed, struggled with the bedsheets in her sleep and ended up tangled in them. Gary, on the other hand, had an extra blanket flung over his head by the girl kicking and rolling around next to him. He tried to throw it back countless times, but each time - without fail - it would end up on him again after 10 minutes. Neither slept well and it wasn't a surprise when they woke up and found themselves with shadows under their tired eyes.

Misty woke up first. Realizing that she couldn't even brush her teeth unless she wanted to risk getting 'Garyitis' (a rare disease that made you become extremely egotistical and big-headed like the person it was named after), she grumbled and squeezed a bit of toothpaste out of a nearby tube and rubbed it onto her teeth with a finger. She splashed her face with water and grabbed a huge bundle of toilet paper to dry herself, and then sprinted into the laundry room.

Mercifully, her clothes were dry and she quickly got changed. Just as she was about to open the front door and leave, she hesitated and glanced back at the bedroom door. It wasn't exactly polite to stay overnight at someone's home and then leave without some form of thanks. Sighing to herself, she found a pen and some paper on a table and scribbled a quick note to her host:

_Dear Mr Bighead:_

She crossed it out. It wasn't a great way to start a letter, no matter how amusing it was to her.

_Gary - _

_Thanks for letting me stay the night and washing my clothes. Now you'd better come to that amusement park thingie I told you about. If you dare to not come I will be forced to _make_ you. Call either May or Ash for details - I've listed their numbers on a separate sheet of paper. _

_Have a lovely day!_

_Misty_

She smiled. It would do. She put it on his kitchen counter, weighed it down with a little ornamental vase and left the house.

xxxxxx

Gary opened his bleary eyes to the sunlight streaming through his open curtains. _Who opened them? _was the first thought that crossed his confused mind. He glanced at the other blanket next to his own and remembered that Misty had spent the night here. He smirked at how wrong it sounded - Misty; fiery, aggravating Misty spending a night in _his_ home? It was something that people would have expected to happen when pigs flew. And since the chances of flying pork was unlikely in the extreme, he didn't think people thought they were very compatible.

He grimaced. He was thinking like she _did_ mean something to him, and that something _did_ happen last night. Which, of course, was completely untrue. Gary shook his head. Such bizarre thoughts were to be reserved for once his brain started working properly, not when he just woke up.

_Was she still here? Would she be having breakfast at his place, like he had done last time when he 'crashed' at her house? _he wondered as he got dressed and headed into the bathroom. Judging by the lack of noise outside, he guessed not. A small part of him felt a little disappointed, but he crushed the feeling as quickly as it had popped up. He really didn't have time to feel disappointed just because Misty, of all people, didn't spend anymore time here. There were plenty of other girls - more attractive ones - out there, and she'd always disliked him anyway, so it was nothing big.

He found himself plagued by similar thoughts all through the morning, until he caught sight of the two pieces of paper jammed underneath the vase his antique-collector friend had given him for a birthday. Raising an eyebrow, he sprang out of his chair faster than he should have and mentally scolded himself for his reaction. Lifting the vase and picking up the note, he sat back down with vase still in his hand and read the note, an odd eagerness in his mind.

Seconds later, he grimaced and flicked the piece of paper onto the table. He replaced the vase and sighed as he piled his dishes into the dishwasher. Amusement park, huh? Gary wouldn't have minded seeing how exactly Misty was going to _make_ him go - the thought made a small smirk grace his lips - but after all the trouble she'd gone to just to give him the coupon, he decided not to invoke her anger anymore. He glanced at the small square of white paper clipped to the note. Ironically, Misty hadn't left her own number but insisted that he call one of the others. Her behavior gave Gary a small stab of annoyance. It wasn't as if he'd ever misuse her phone number. He certainly wasn't a stalker and he doubted anyone would want to stalk her in the first place.

He called May, but she gave vague answers to his questions and seemed to hint to him to ask someone else. He wasn't going to call Ash because that just wasn't something Gary Oak would do.

Only one person left on the list. He'd suspected it would end up like this. _Where does she go during the day? _he pondered to himself. _Oh yeah. She's the gym leader of Cerulean City now. Meaning she's gonna be spending _all _day at the Cerulean Gym._

xxxxxx

Misty felt somewhat upbeat as she strided towards the gym, a spring in her step and a smile on her face. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and she was about to spend all day doing one of the things she loved best - battling against other Pokemon trainers. She unlocked the door, made sure there was enough food for the Pokemon when they got hungry, and let out her 6 main Pokemon to have a quick swim in the pools before they started fighting.

They emerged from the Pokeballs eagerly, rapidly downed some Pokemon food that Brock had sent her a few days ago. The delicious smell wafted up to her nose, and she restrained herself from tasting some of it herself. She looked around in the kitchen for milk and cereal, but could only find a carton of yoghurt which she ate quickly.

She yawned as she finished, and tossed the empty carton over her shoulder into the bin. Judging by the clunk it made on the tiles, she'd missed. She sighed, picked it up and put it where it belonged. Outside, she heard some scuffling, then knocking that announced the arrival of her first opponent of the day.

Misty smoothed her hair back, checked her ponytail was perfect, and opened the door with a huge beam on her face.

xxxxxx

Gary found the gym about an hour later. The people who had given him directions had been extremely vague (such as, 'oh, to the right' or 'just up a bit further') that didn't really help him. In the end, he purchased a map - he hadn't been around here for so long - and finally found his way.

Why was everyone being so vague today? He hoped he didn't come all the way here just to have Misty behave the same way.

He walked up to the double doors, and heard sounds of a Pokemon battle raging inside as he approached. He smirked; he hadn't battled her in ages and now he suddenly had an urge to. Except of course he couldn't just march inside, kick the other guy off the stand and plant himself there instead. That would hardly make him look good. In fact it might even get him arrested for the use of inappropriate violence, and then he'd go to jail, and then...

_OK, I'm getting _really_ sidetracked here, _he thought, giving himself a mental shake. _I didn't come here just to get myself arrested. _He pushed open the doors quietly, and, ignoring the stares of others, sat down on a nearby chair. He was quite aware of the fact that the few people near him all seemed quite interested in him, either because he was Gary Oak or because he was - there was no other way to put it - so good-looking. He shifted his attention to the battle in front of him, and marvelled.

He watched as Misty calmly commanded her Pokemon to dive, jump, and torpedo away from the opponent's attacks, and then immediately swerve back to deal damage while the other Pokemon was occupied. It was one of her tactics that hardly ever failed, and one that she'd used many a time on him. He grudgingly admitted that he'd fallen for it, though that still didn't stop him from beating her.

Gary felt a little bit of an ego boost at the memory of his victories against her.

"Oh damn... uh, Pidgeotto, I choose you!" yelled the preteen boy who faced her. His Pokemon flew out of its Pokeball, but was soon caught in a tsunami attack by Misty's Kingdra, and flailed helplessly as it plummeted down into the pool. One more hit, and it was knocked out. The boy stared down, and looked as though he was about to cry. The platforms were lowered and Misty rushed out to comfort him. She said something, and he broke into a smile and nodded. Her ability to make people feel better, no matter what, was still something that Gary found amazing.

She took a break, chatting a little with the people waiting to battle her and grabbed some snacks. When she emerged from the kitchen, she saw him. Her eyes widened, but she didn't say anything and walked briskly over to him. "And, may I ask," she said crisply. "What are _you_ doing here?" From the way she pronounced the word 'you', you would have thought that he was some kind of bacteria.

"Oh, nothing... nothing at all. Just admiring the way you battle." He winked at her, grinning when she turned pink. "Seriously. You shouldn't go so hard on these poor kids. All they want is that shiny badge." Gary pointed at the badge secured on the chest of her t-shirt.

Misty snorted. "Yeah, go easy on them and then have them beaten mercilessly by the next gym leader? They'll sack me if I do that. And then one of my sisters might get called back instead. I don't want that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is being a gym leader that important to you?"

"Not that... I just don't want to have to give up this gym. It's the best place around here for water Pokemon, and I don't want my sisters hogging it again. They've done that enough already." She rolled her eyes, then looked at him again. "So why _are _you here, anyway?"

"About that amusement park trip..." he began.

She cut him off. "I'm pretty sure I left May and Ash's numbers for you. May organized it, so she should know everything."

He grimaced. "Well, I called and she wasn't all that helpful. In fact, she mentioned for me to ask you instead." A lie, but a small one. Wouldn't hurt. And that was pretty much what May was suggesting, anyway.

"Oh my God, that conniving little brat!" Misty complained, slapping her forehead. "I should've known she'd do this to me. Oh well. So what do you want to know? Actually I don't know that much either."

Gary folded his arms, motioning for her to sit down beside him. "You could begin with telling me the basics. Date, place, etc. Oh, and tell me; why exactly are you inviting me again?"

xxxxxx

After she was through, Gary was still thoroughly confused. So they were inviting him just because there was a spare ticket? Well, he knew that there were probably plenty of other people May could have invited, and choosing him over them wasn't something she'd usually do. Which could only mean... that there was some kind of catch involved. Like maybe he would have to buy them lunch. Or dinner sometime. Or both.

Gary wasn't poor, but he wasn't _that_ generous.

"What's in it for me?" he asked finally, grinning again. "Since you want me to go so much, I will. But I do expect some form of repayment."

Misty rolled her eyes. "I'm not paying you anything. I'm stone broke. Why don't you think of it as a good, fun trip rather than an obligation?"

"I grew out of amusement parks a decade ago," he said pertly, not answering her directly.

"Growing out of amusement parks is impossible," Misty declared indignantly, wagging a finger in his face. "You may think you've been on every possible ride there could be, but a lot of new rides could have come up in a decade."

Gary combed a hand through his messy hair, making it even more spiky and scruffy, and Misty was horrified to catch herself staring at him dreamily. She nearly slapped herself but refrained from doing so in case the nearby people thought she was crazy and left. "Alright, alright. I already said I was going." He made a face. "But I do believe we were discussing what you would give me in exchange for my participation in your little trip."

She thought for a while. "Well, I have this old antique clock at home that I never use... you seem to have a lot of antiques so you might want that...?" Deep down, she knew he wasn't looking for a material repayment, but maybe she could tempt him away from what he had in mind - which, she was sure, wasn't something she was going to like. _Yeah right. Like he's gonna go for an antique clock, of all things. And that clock is hardly antique. You got it in some murky little store when you were sightseeing in a distant land, _whispered her inner voice. "Oh, shut up," she snapped back, realizing too late that she had spoken aloud.

Gary looked taken aback. "I didn't say anything," he said, looking confused. "And no, I'm not an avid antique collector. My tasteless friends give them to me too often for my liking."

Misty laughed, something she thought she'd never do in Gary Oak's presence. After all, usually him just being there made her feel severely annoyed and irritated. "OK, why don't we just drop this whole repayment thing. You're gonna like the amusement park. And you don't need to be _paid_ for coming on a fun little trip, do you?" _Take it lightly and easily. Then he might get caught up in the mood and drop the stupid matter. _

Unfortunately, Gary wasn't someone who had the IQ of a slug, and she had no such luck. He smirked. "You're not getting off that easily. But yeah, let's leave it for today. Those people behind you are starting to shoot some very nasty looks at me for taking up their time. Better get going before someone starts to get violent on me." He stood, walked a few steps and then turned back. "Oh, and... next time, try not to snore so loudly, will you?"

"Wh-what?" she spluttered, going red. "I do _not_ snore!"

"You just keep thinking that. Maybe one day it'll come true," he laughed, walking backwards slowly towards the exit.

She folded her arms across her chest and huffed. "And there will certainly _not_ be a next time, either." As she spoke, she mentally tried to stop the blush that was crawling up her neck. OK, she blushed easily but it was a pretty blush-worthy subject. It wasn't everyday that she ended up sleeping in the same bed as Gary, no matter how innocent the reason.

Gary laughed again. "That's what they all say."

Unsurprisingly, Misty found great satisfaction and amusement when he backed up too much and banged his head on the gym door. Hmph. That was what he got for trying to accuse her of something that she definitely did not do.

And for suggesting that they might end up in _that_ situation again.

**xxxxxx**

ZOMG! I'm finished! -Heavenly music- The ending of the chapter took quite a lot of brainpower in order to combat the writer's-blockness... but yeah, I finally cranked it out. As usual I had about half done and then finished it after a few months. I do that quite a lot, actually. I write about one third of the next chapter, run out of ideas, and then go back to it after a long hiatus... well, that's just what happens to me. T.T

Reviews equal (slightly) faster updates. :D


	5. A Bad Mistake

**Sugar and Spice**

**A/N: **Hello there... -Runs off- OK OK, don't kill me! Here's the next chapter for you! T.T -Is personally ashamed by the amount of time it took to get this chapter out-

xxxxxx

**Chapter Five**

xxxxxx

Misty found herself counting the days off until the trip to the amusement park. She couldn't wait to spend some fun-time with Ash, something she hadn't done for quite a while considering both of their busy schedules. Day by day, the number of black marker X's on her calendar increased and she became giddier and giddier. Which was quite un-Misty of her, but she didn't really care at this stage.

Her strange giddiness also served to put Gary out of her mind. It was something she welcomed, because she was starting to get sick of him floating around in her head all day. No, it wasn't because she couldn't stop thinking of him; it was more or less because things had happened with them that she'd only _thought_ about happening with a guy before. It annoyed her, but it wasn't as if she'd die from it.

The night before the trip, Misty spent almost all evening looking for a suitable outfit to wear. Something showy, but not over the top. Her clothes also had to match, of course. And then there was the issue of the right shoes, earrings, accessories... it was enough to give her - or anyone, for that matter - a headache. Eventually she settled for something simple - a blue tank top and camouflage shorts, folded up at the bottom. Satisfied with her choices, she went to bed early, determined to have a good night's sleep so she didn't look fatigued the next day.

Morning arrived faster than Misty expected. After a small breakfast, she tied her hair up in her normal side pigtail after trying out several hairstyles, figuring it was what she looked best in. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. No, she looked too normal. She plaited some of her fringe into tiny plaits and tucked it behind her ears, clipping them in place with small butterfly clips. She put on the clothes she chose last night, glancing at the clock on the wall as she did so. 8:30am. She blinked and looked again. Surely she must be suffering from bleary eyes. But no, the clock still displayed the same thing.

"Holy. Crap," she said slowly. Misty thought back to one of her conversations with May a few days ago, where the other girl had clearly told her to be at the amusement park gates by 8:30am. Which was now. And she was planning to bike there, too! Hurriedly she threw on a pair of trainers, grabbed the small side-slung bag she'd prepared last night and headed out of the house. With a superhuman speed she pulled her bike out of the shed and started pedalling madly as she zoomed her way out of the driveway and onto the streets.

The amusement park was around 30 minutes distance via bike, and she doubted she could cut that time down unless she didn't mind braving an extremely high risk of ending up in hospital. So she gritted her teeth and bore it whenever a vehicle took its sweet time coming out of a driveway, turning in front of her or just doing slow things in general. Misty could swear that the traffic slowed down on purpose whenever she approached. What seemed like an eternity of non-stop biking later, with her legs feeling like lead, she stopped and took a break. She checked her watch and grimaced. 8:48am.

_HONK! HONK!_

Some stupid car was tooting its horn at her. Probably some immature teenage brats, high on glue or petrol or whatever they sniffed these days.

_HOOONNKKK!_

Misty started to get a little concerned. Was she stopped in the middle of someone's driveway? Or had she somehow parked herself in the middle of the road? She looked around quickly to make sure, and was relieved to find that she wasn't doing either of those things.

So why the hell was the car still honking at her?

She turned around, annoyed. "Look, if you have a problem- huh?"

"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice," Gary said dryly at her, raising a hand lazily out of his car window in greeting. "I know you're slow, but I didn't think you would be _this_ slow."

"Gary? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the park already, waiting for me to get there." Misty blinked at him, bemused.

He rolled his eyes. "I was going to go for being fashionably late, but I guess I pressed the snooze button too many times." He motioned to his back seat. "Since we're both late, and you're going to be a lot later if you continue riding on your bike, why not hop in?"

"I wouldn't accept a ride from you even if you paid me," she retorted, swinging a leg over her bicycle. "Anyway, thanks but no thanks. I'm almost there anyway."

"Almost there? Misty, you're another quarter of an hour there by bike. By car, it'll be 5 minutes tops. I know you want your daily exercise, but now's not the time to be doing it."

He had a point. And it would hardly look good if she arrived at the amusement park flushed and sweaty, before the day even started. And then there was the issue of where she would park her bike... it would be much safer if she could stow it in the back of a car. "I can leave my bike in the trunk, right?" she said finally.

Gary grinned triumphantly. "The trunk isn't big enough, but you can lash it to the top." He came out of the car, and opened the trunk to produce a coil of synthetic rope, while Misty tried her best to lift her bicycle up to the roof of the car. Gary found it was amusing to watch her struggle, but they didn't really have time to muck around. "Here, let me," he said with a dramatically impatient sigh, and grabbed the bike from her hands and hauled it onto the car easily.

Misty stared at him and then back at the bike. "You been on steroids lately?"

"No, it's just that I'm a guy. Of course I'm stronger." He went around to the other side of the car and held open the door for her. "Well?"

With a last trace of reluctance, she climbed into the passenger seat. Gary shut the door and a few moments later he sat down beside her. "You better be quick," she told him.

He laughed. "Oh yes, I'll be quick all right. Don't you worry about a thing."

About three minutes later, they were in the amusement carpark looking for a space. Misty tried not to throw up and rubbed her head where it had banged against the headrest so many times. Gary had been _quick_ all right, but maybe next time she would rather he be slow. The car slowly grinded to a halt as Gary turned into a free space, and she wobbled out of the car.

"Well, you did tell me to hurry," he said, smirking at her. She resisted the urge to punch his face and instead walked unsteadily towards the entrance.

xxxxxx

They found Ash and May sitting next to the ticketing booths on a bench. "There you two are," May said pleasantly as she saw them approach. She looked at Ash and they both raised an eyebrow as they turned back to Gary and Misty. "Well, I certainly didn't expect you to get along this well already. You came together, hm?"

"Uhh... not really," Misty said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "We met up by coincidence."

"Right," Gary added, nodding.

May gave Misty a look that clearly said, _who are you trying to kid, girl?_ but didn't mention anything out loud. Misty sent back a responding look that said, _don't you dare probe anymore in front of Ash._ The other girl held in an unladylike snort but nodded.

"Since you guys were late, we missed out on getting in early." May shook her head sadly. "The queues are at their longest at this time of day. But oh well, at least we're all here. Might as well start lining up!" With a bounce in her step, she took her place at the end of the shortest queue, which was still long enough to make Misty dread the wait. She supposed that it would at least give her some good time to chat with Ash. It wasn't as if they would have anything else to do anyway. She stepped in behind May and the boys followed.

"I haven't seen you in a while, Misty. How've you been?" Ash asked, grinning his familiar grin at her.

"The same, I guess," she said, smiling back. "Just taking care of the gym and all... you know?"

They soon fell into easy chatter. It wasn't hard, as they knew each other so well. Misty was also aware of May and Gary striking up a conversation of their own, and found herself trying to listen to them and talk at the same time, resulting in some rather jumbled sentences coming out of her mouth.

"Had a late night last night?" Ash asked, looking amused. "Seems like you didn't quite get enough sleep."

Misty snapped her attention back to him and laughed nervously. "Oh no, I'm perfectly fine. Just a little excited I guess."

"Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she's excited over," she heard Gary drawl behind her, and May giggled. Misty stamped on his foot and was satisfied to hear him inhale sharply. "That was totally unnecessary," he muttered into her ear as he bent to nurse his foot.

"Then keep your snide comments to yourself, idiot," she hissed back. Luckily there was a bit of shoving and pushing just at that moment, so she wasn't required to explain what she was doing to Ash.

Unfortunately, the crowd also managed to separate them into pairs. Misty and Gary were pushed forward a few metres in the queue, while May and Ash were pushed behind. Misty turned around quickly and was relieved to see them not too far away. She was about to elbow her way back to them but Ash motioned for her to keep going forward and get inside first, as to not waste anymore time. Sighing, she turned back.

"Guess we're stuck together _again_," Gary sighed. "Though it would have been nicer if you and May were swapped. She's a much friendlier companion than you are."

Misty felt strangely angry at his words. "Well, you're not exactly the best person to hang around with either," she huffed. "I'd rather talk to Ash than you anyday. _His_ ego is a normal size, at least."

He was about to reply, but they were already in front of the ticket lady. "Good morning, welcome to Wonderland! A couple's ticket, right?"

"We already have tickets," Gary explained, and gave them to her. Misty felt herself going pink at the idea of them being a couple. It was horrible to think about.

"Very well, please proceed. Have a great day!" She tore off the main part and handed them the stubs to show the security guards inside.

They headed through and gave the stubs to the guards, who wrapped a bright pink paper strip around their wrists. "Show these to the ride maintainers before you go on a ride," they told them. They hurried out of the way as a fresh group of people came through.

"This is new," Misty said as she examined her pink 'bracelet'. "I don't remember having these when I last went to an amusement park."

"You're just behind the times," Gary said flippantly as he leaned against the low stone wall next to a map of the park. "These are just security measures. If you don't have a band, you don't get to go on the rides."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, fine, Mr. Know-It-All."

They waited in silence for the others, who took a surprisingly long time to appear. Eventually they caught sight of the two stumbling through the crowd and towards the security guards. "Over here," Misty called, waving an arm in the air. May looked up and grinned. Misty shuffled away a bit from Gary just as Ash glanced over at them. "Hurry up, you guys!"

With all four of them together, they then proceeded to go on all the rides they could. The girls loved the monster rollercoaster, which the boys couldn't stand. They went on it as many times as they could before they had any food, in case they threw up when they rode it after lunch. Ash and Gary just stood around and waited. Misty thought that it seemed a lot like a double date. There was just one thing: who was whose partner?

After the rollercoaster they went on the bumper cars, where they nearly dislocated some jointed bumping each others' cars. Then they went on the bumper boats, and managed to wet each other thoroughly enough to make them all look like dogs after a bath. However, they weren't deterred and continued into the Spook House. Before they went inside, however, May dragged Misty aside for a little pep talk.

"Listen, Misty, this is the most _perfect_ place you can ask for to have a little romancing in the dark," she whispered, glancing over at the boys who were looking weirdly at them. "We're girls, so we have an excuse to get scared easily here. When anything remotely frightening pops out, you grab Ash's arm and cling on for life. It's a no-fail tactic. Always works, you know." May winked at her and skipped away to push Gary inside with her first.

Ash shrugged and turned to Misty. "Let's go inside. This should be fun," he said, grinning. Misty nodded and followed him.

It was indeed very dark inside; only the floor was faintly lit to guide the way. Strange howling noises filled her ears, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. As she cautiously walked through, random ghostly apparitions appeared and spiderwebs seemed to brush her face. She had to give it to the creators of this place. It all seemed pretty damn real. At least she would have good reasons to cling onto Ash without seeming too fake.

"Scared yet?" she heard him ask her.

She nodded, but then remembered he couldn't see her. "Y-yeah. This is scarier than I expected- _eeek!_" She stumbled over something on the ground and grabbed the nearest person she could faintly see in the dark, hoping it was Ash.

"Whoa. Was that you, Misty? Are you alright?"

She was relieved to hear his voice. _Thank God I managed to grab the right person._ "I'm fine. Sorry about that," she said, gripping him a little tighter.

Suddenly she felt his face move against her cheek until his lips rested on her ear, and he whispered, "What do you think you're doing, Misty?"

She felt herself go cold. That was definitely not Ash's voice, and it certainly wasn't May's. "G-G-Gary?" she spluttered, feeling her face flame. She was just about to let go of his arm hastily but at that moment, another apparition dropped down right in front of her, catching her completely by surprise. Or more like by shock. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ouch, you're hurting me!" Gary yelled. "Loosen that grip, will you?"

"What's going on?" May asked in a voice that told them that she was trying not to laugh. "You guys alright back there?"

"I'm fine, but Misty and Gary don't seem to be," Ash said, sounding puzzled.

Misty quickly recovered herself and pushed Gary aside. "I'm perfectly fine. Just got a little jumpy from the ghosts. Boy, this is pretty frightening isn't it?"

"Indeed," May answered. "And we're not even at the climax."

_Gah, _Misty thought. _If I'm this nervous the whole way, who knows what I'll do after this?_ She made a mental note to stay as close to Ash as possible and as far from Gary as she could. She did _not_ want to risk that embarrassing arm-grab again. Especially since she grabbed the wrong person.

The next few minutes passed relatively normally. She made the occasional tiny squeak when she got scared, but managed not to do anything other than that. The end of the house was soon in sight, and May and Ash walked out first, brushing past the spiderweb veil that covered the exit door. Misty was about to follow when a huge spider dropped in front of her. She stopped dead in her tracks. She _hated_ spiders.

Gary walked right into her, and stumbled over her. "What the- OW!"

"EEYAAHHH!" Misty screamed as she plunged headfirst towards the spider and she and Gary burst out of the Spook House in a tangle of limbs.

When she looked up, she saw a dismayed Ash and a very amused May standing over them. "Well, Misty," she said, giggling helplessly. "I told you it always works. Except maybe next time you'd better make sure who's who first before you try anything."

"Yeah," Gary grumbled as he managed to stand up. "You could have saved me a lot of pain if only you checked who I was."

Misty wished with all her heart that the ground would just open up and swallow her right here and now.

**xxxxxx**

Yay... after a morning of non-stop writing later, I'm done! -Wipes brow- That took, uh, quite a while to finish but better late than never, right? -Laughs nervously and backs away-

I _would_ say reviews equal faster updates, but I'm sure we all know that's hardly true anymore. However, reviews will still be much appreciated, of course. ;)


	6. Confusion and Vampirism

**Sugar and Spice**

**A/N:** Hay guyz, I'm back from China. It was a fun trip, to say the least. XD Anyway, I bring you Sugar and Spice chapter 6 before I start cramming for my midyear exams! W00t! Enjoy!

xxxxxx

**Chapter Six**

xxxxxx

Looking at Gary was now a painful experience for Misty. Every time she did so, her mind would flash back to their dramatic exit from the Spook House, and she would invariably relive the moment when Ash looking at them with wide, surprised eyes, as if realizing something. He was now also subtly prone to leaving her and Gary alone, which was bad since the whole point of the amusement park trip was so Misty could be alone with _him_, not Gary.

She sighed resignedly and sipped her milkshake. They were sitting at a table under a large umbrella to shade them from the blistering sun, the four of them split into two pairs. Originally, May had tactfully plonked herself right next to Gary and eyed Misty to do the same with Ash, but Misty was too embarrassed and settled for sitting equidistant between him and May.

When May realized that nothing was happening, she suggested they buy drinks and somehow arranged their seating plan to what it was now; her and Gary on one side, and Misty and Ash on the other. She prevented Ash from moving towards her by putting her feet up on the bench, knowing that Misty wouldn't migrate towards Gary if her life depended on it.

That effectively trapped Ash and Misty on one bench with nowhere to run. They made small talk, chattered and laughed together, but Misty felt that something was slightly awkward between them.

_Yep, that tumble definitely affected him,_ she thought, and was surprised to find herself feeling oddly pleased. She supposed that even Gary had his useful moments sometimes. _Urgh, no, don't think about_ him her brain protested, but too late; she glanced sideways at Gary out of her peripheral vision and immediately started having a headache.

Ash noticed her discomfort at once and patted her shoulder. "You OK?" he asked, concern blatant on his face. "You don't have a fever, do you?" He put a hand on her forehead and then onto his own to check.

May winked at Misty and gave her a thumbs up, silently mouthing the words "good work!". Misty wanted to explain that she didn't do anything, but then again this _was_ a positive turn of events. Might as well make the most of it.

"I... ahh, I'm sorry," she gasped theatrically, slumping onto his shoulder in a moment of feigned weakness. "I think the sun got to me more than I thought..." Which wasn't entirely a lie, since she had been suffering ever since she got out of the Spook House and the sun beating mercilessly down on her didn't help to improve her mood at all.

She was vaguely aware of Gary rolling his eyes and making badly disguised gagging noises, but she ignored him and coughed delicately. "You really are sick," Ash said, frowning. "Maybe we should call it a day. Go home and get some rest, alright?"

"NO!" she squawked with horror, sitting up in a flash. Ash looked at her strangely. "I mean, um, I'm not that sick. You guys don't have to give up your day here just cos I'm not feeling that great." She smiled as normally as she could. "See? I'm fine."

Ash shook his head and put both hands on her shoulders, turning her around to face him. "You shouldn't push yourself, Misty. You'll only make me worry. You know that?" Misty couldn't look away as he stared intently at her.

On the other side of the table, May and Gary were acting like lovestruck lovers. "Oh, Misty!" Gary gushed, opening his arms to May.

"Oh, Ash!" May returned in an equally nauseating tone.

"I can't bear to see you in pain! It strikes a thorn into my heart - I'll do anything to make you better!"

"Oh Ash, you're so good to me! I love you so much! Mwah!"

"Mwaaah!"

"Shuddup, you guys!" Ash yelled, his cheeks turning pink. Misty giggled. "You're supposed to be on my side," he said accusingly, turning back to her with a grin on his face.

"I try my best," she replied, laughing.

"Apparently not hard enough," he said, raising an eyebrow. "But seriously. You might have sunstroke - you should really should get someone to take you home." It seemed like Ash would not be deterred from this idea. "I would, but I came by bike, which isn't the best..." He glanced at the other boy, who looked back at him with a smirk. "I hate to do this to you, Misty," he murmured so that only she could hear, then raised his voice. "But I think Gary should take you back. He's got a car; that would be the most comfortable way to get you home."

Misty paled. Gary choked on his drink. May patted him on the back.

The atmosphere at the table suddenly became very frigid.

"Ash," Misty said, her tone threatening with all traces of sickness gone. "You are one of the thickest people I have ever had the misfortune of encountering in my entire life." She picked up her bag and stood abruptly. With one last glare at the boy, she walked off, fuming.

"You know, Ash, I always thought you were stupid," Gary commented as he also stood up. "But you really take the definition to new heights."

He went after Misty, leaving May and Ash behind. Ash looked at her with wide, pleading, and - amazing enough - confused eyes. "May, you have to tell me what on earth I did wrong."

She clucked her tongue, wondering if Misty's case was hopeless. "Let's go. I'll explain on the way home."

xxxxxx

Gary managed to catch up to the redhead in a few moments, but only because he ran. Even though Misty was only powerwalking, albeit very quickly, he had to half-jog to keep up. "That was cold of you," he remarked once they were walking shoulder to shoulder. "And it would help if you slowed down."

"Go away, Gary, I don't plan to follow Ash's suggestion." She spread her arms without looking at him. "I'm not even sick."

"You still need to get your bike, so you're stuck with me for the time being."

"Fine. But only until the moment I get my hands on it."

Gary sighed. "You know, you don't have to be so stubborn to me. I'm not the one who suggested I take you home."

"I didn't say you were," she replied mulishly.

"OK, OK," he said, raising his hands. "But I have to admit you do look kind of pale... spent last night thinking about a certain someone?"

She glared at him. "That's none of your business."

"Ash would murder me if you got run over because you were too sick to ride your bike properly," he said. "I think I should take you back home. Really."

"GARY!" Misty shouted suddenly, stopping still and turning to him. "Why are you doing this? I'm perfectly fine, you can see that. OK, I might be a little white but that doesn't mean you have to act all hair-raisingly sympathetic!"

"Sympathetic? How am I acting sympathetic?" Gary yelled back, getting angry. Here he was being all nice to her, and this is how she acts? No wonder Ash dumped her on him.

"You just... are," she said, suddenly calming down. He was horrified to see her eyes getting moist. "It's weird. It's not like you," she sighed finally.

He rolled his eyes. "You really are stupid, you know. Why are you so angry at Ash? I don't like to defend him, but he was obviously just worrying about you."

She looked up at him. He found her teary eyes disconcertingly distracting. _Gary, get a hold of yourself, _his mind snapped. _You've seen prettier girls when they're teary and you'd barely batted an eye._

"When did you become so sensitive to what Ash thinks?" she said, hastily turning around and wiping her eyes.

"It was pretty much written on his face," he smirked. And glad to see you back to normal, he thought. He had no experience in handling weepy girls and it would really creep him out if Misty turned into one of them.

"Well I'm glad one of us understands what's going on in that skull of his," she muttered.

They walked towards the carpark in silence. When they got to Gary's car, he started to untie the ropes that bound her beloved bicycle to the roof of his car. He was about halfway done with the first knot when he felt a hand on his arm. "Leave it," Misty said, not meeting his eyes. "I'll go with you."

He wanted to laugh. "You know, if you want to apologize for screaming at me, go right ahead," he said, retying the ropes to make sure they were secure, and then stood against the car door to prevent her going in.

"I didn't- urgh," she complained. "Fine. Sorry for yelling at you. I wasn't thinking straight. Now can we go?"

"Alright," he replied lightly, and climbed in.

She gave one last big sniff and opened the car door. _Now I owe him even more,_ she thought as she put on her seatbelt.

The journey back was a more cruisey one than their previous ride. They didn't talk, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable - except after Gary reached for something in the glove compartment and she shrank as close to the door as she could so he wouldn't have to touch her. She gave a quick glance at him and saw with surprise that he actually looked slightly hurt.

She hadn't meant to make him feel like he was repulsive. She was just afraid that she would do something strange and unexpected if he touched her.

Misty shook her head violently. She could _not_ be having a mild crush on Gary. It was probably just the nasty side affect of Ash being totally unaware of her advances, whether on purpose or not. She knew Ash only meant well by sending her home but she couldn't help wondering if he did it to get away. As much as she hated to admit it, Ash had behaved totally platonic towards her all day today. She had probably completely deluded herself before when she thought that her and Gary rolling out of the Spook House would have made him even the slightest bit jealous. The awkwardness was probably just him getting over the shock of seeing the sight.

She sighed helplessly and looked out the window, giving a slight yawn. She winced when she felt a slight pain from her lips. She touched them and realized they were starting to crack. _Oh, great,_ she thought to herself. _Of all the times to forget my lip balm..._

The car stopped at a red light, but Misty continued to be engrossed by the scenery. Her vision shifted for a moment and she saw Gary's reflection in the glass. For some odd reason, he was looking at her. She prayed that she didn't have something on her face, i.e. a stray zit.

When she realized that he wasn't going to look away (and a zit couldn't possibly be that interesting), she snapped her head around as fast as she could - at the price of her neck cricking - to catch him at it. Sadly, at that very moment the light turned green and Gary's focus was back on the road.

Oh, her poor neck. Sacrificed for nothing.

Throughout the rest of the trip, he kept staring at her and then turning away as soon as she was aware of it. Only when they were about to park by her house did she realize that he was silently shaking from laughter.

"What's so funny?" she asked, annoyed.

He stopped laughing for a second, though he still had a grin on his face. "Your lip. It's bleeding a rivulet down your chin. You look like a frickin' _vampire_." He started sniggering again as he parked the car nicely along the curb.

She frowned, touching her lips. There really _was_ quite a lot of blood. She was slightly disgusted and quickly grabbed a tissue and dabbed it off her face. "Thanks for telling me," she said when she was done, feeling embarrassed.

"Missed a spot," Gary said, and absently reached over to wipe a last smudged area of faint crimson from the side of her mouth with his thumb. As soon as he did so, he realized that Misty was staring at him with wide eyes and a slight pink tinge to her cheeks. She hurriedly opened the door and climbed out without a word. "Hey! There really _was_ a spot of blood left. I wasn't just trying to find an excuse to touch you!" he shouted, fearful that she was getting the wrong idea. He was a hands-on person, it was his nature.

"You could have just _told_ me," Misty yelled back at him, aware that her blush was getting deeper.

"I..."

He realized he didn't have anything to say to that. There were plenty of mirrors in his car and he could have directed her to any of them. He decided to blame his touchy-feely nature again. _When in doubt, blame something else,_ he thought to himself as if reciting a mantra. After all, Gary himself was never wrong. Duh.

"Thanks for the ride," she snapped, sounding anything but thankful as she slammed the door in his face.

Gary sighed and wondered what was wrong with him.

xxxxxx

Misty shut the front door and leaned against it, feeling her face flame.

What the _hell_ did Gary do that for?

The worst part was that she knew he was just that kind of person. That action probably didn't mean anything to him, but to Misty - who didn't approve of randomly touching people - it had meant _something_. She just wasn't sure what.

Her crush on Ash was suffering a strange tug towards Gary and she didn't like it. _Where's Ash when you need him?_ she thought. _If only I hadn't feigned ill today... things might have turned out differently._ The car ride home had definitely played a large part in the directional tug of the crush, and it was too late now to pretend it had never happened.

She unconsciously licked her lips and looked in the large mirror in the hallway. There was a faint, barely perceptible spot of blood left where Gary had touched the side of her mouth.

She found herself smiling. So he hadn't been lying after all.

**xxxxxx**

Wheeeeeee. Things are getting interesting! And I actually plan to finish this fic not long from now. Another 4-5 chapters should do it, if not less. :)

Reviews are appreciated, as usual!


	7. Spring Cleaning and the Results

**Sugar and Spice**

**A/N:** Not much to say, except... this fic is still alive. Heh. Oh, and I realized I forgot to define their ages earlier - Misty's 17 and Gary's 16. Lol! She's older! I looked on some Pokemon sites and it says Misty may be around 2 years older than Ash and Gary, but let's just imagine that she's not quite 2 years older and it's not her 18th birthday yet, but it's past his 16th. There.

xxxxxx

**Chapter Seven**

xxxxxx

The next day found Gary getting nowhere with his spring cleaning. Gramps was right; there _was_ a thick layer of dust over nearly everything except the more commonly used places such as the bed, the bathroom and the kitchen. He wasn't a clean freak, but even he had to draw the line when he opened his closet and moths flew into his face, causing him to yelp in surprise.

He looked around helplessly at the mess that was his apartment, and decided that he might as well start by scrubbing the kitchen so he wouldn't risk dying of food poisoning anytime soon. As he scourged the cupboards for a cloth, a bright idea suddenly popped into his mind. Misty! She still owed him a favour in exchange for him going along with the amusement park trip, and he really couldn't think of anything else he could have her do. However, along with the thought of the redhead came the memories of yesterday's events. The whole blood situation had been quite strange and Misty hadn't exactly left in a good mood, if the deafening door slam was anything to go by. Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea to confront her again.

Gary moved away from the phone and decided to have a look around at his house to assess just how badly he needed to do this clean-up. He walked around and took in the mould-covered tiles of his kitchen and bathroom and the thick blanket of dust under his bed as well as in various other places, and added that to the moth-infested closet. Within a few moments he came to the wise conclusion that it may be a good idea to call someone in after all.

Feeling somewhat dreary, he stopped his look-see and walked over to the phone, and began dialling Misty's number.

xxxxxx

Misty was slightly apprehensive when she picked up the phone and heard Gary's voice on the other end, but that was an understandable reaction. After all, he'd crashed at her place uninvited and drunk, used her shower at a rather bad time so that she ended up blemishing her virgin eyes with the sight of him naked, and worst of all she had to admit she could very well be attracted to him. "What do you want?"

"_Ouch,_" he said from the other end. "_That's some greeting._"

She rolled her eyes, even though he couldn't see her. "Yeah, well, consider yourself special."

He laughed. "_In any case, I should probably get to my point before you bite my head off. I called to tell you that I've thought of what I want you to do for me in exchange for my participation at the trip. I've held my end of the bargain, so now you owe me a favour."_

"Oh," Misty said with some surprise. She had almost forgotten about their deal but now he brought it all back to her. There was an odd feeling of anticipation in her mind as to what he could have in store for her, though she'd long convinced herself that it couldn't be anything simple.

"_Yes, oh,_" he said mockingly. "_Seems like you've put that behind you. But I hope you didn't think I'd let you off just because you had a brief bout of amnesia._"

"I wouldn't dream of it," she sighed. "What do you have in mind?"

There was a pause. Misty almost wondered if he was embarrassed by what he was about to ask, then reminded herself who she was talking to. What could he possibly be hesitant to tell her about? Especially something that he wanted her to do? "_I'd like you... to come over and do a complete tidy-and-clean-up of my apartment. I've been trying to find a place to start, but clearly cleaning isn't exactly one of my strong points."_

She almost laughed. The great Gary Oak, worthy rival of Ash Ketchum, owner of dozens- no, even hundreds of Pokemon, asking _her_ to do some housekeeping for him? Then again, she mentally agreed with him about his lack of ability to tidy things up. She couldn't realistically imagine him vacuuming the floor or scrubbing the bathtub, no matter how much she tried to stretch her imagination.

"Alright, I'll put you out of your misery," she replied with an amused lilt in her voice. "When do you want me over?"

"_Now would be good,_" he told her. "_Get one of your sisters to cover for you at your gym or something. I'd like to have this over and done with so I can live in this place properly."_

"Now? But I have better things to do!" she complained. "This is a little too short of a notice. I have to get mentally prepared to do a big clean-up." Well, she did have to be mentally prepared, but not for the reason she'd told him. After all, there was a chance that he would hang around while she tidied the place and they would be effectively alone together. She would have to keep herself calm and collected to prevent further unwanted attraction to the idiot, and that took _real_ effort.

"_Are you going to do this or not?_" he asked impatiently. "_Look, the sooner you come over, the earlier we'll be done by. No sense in squabbling about a few extra hours of hanging around at home being bored._"

"I am not bored!" she protested, but decided he was right. "Fine, fine, I'll head over now. Be there in half an hour. Don't make too much of a mess while I'm on my way, OK?"

"_Now that you mention it, giving you more work to do seems like a great idea,_" he chuckled. "_See you soon._"

"_Hey!_ Don't you dare!" Misty started to yell, but he had already hung up. She scowled and smacked the book she was reading shut, before grabbing her keys and heading out the door.

xxxxxx

Gary heard the screech of bike wheels outside about half an hour later, and stood up from watching TV on his bed to open the door. He was amused to see Misty leaping up the stairs as if she couldn't wait to get started, but her haste was soon explained when she turned on him and demanded to know if he'd messed things up yet or not. He assured her that he hadn't moved from the TV since he'd phoned her and she relaxed visibly.

"Are you going to stick around?" she asked him nonchalantly as she came in.

He shrugged. "Am I going to be in the way?" He wondered if she was giving him a subtle hint to get lost, as she might still be a little twitchy from yesterday's events. Nevertheless, although he knew he could trust her to be alone in his house without him around, he felt _just_ a little bit guilty about letting her slave all by herself so he wasn't going to clear off that easily.

Misty was already starting to put on an apron that she'd found in a cupboard. "Not if you do what I tell you to. I'm gonna let out a couple of my water Pokemon in the bathroom so they can get started with blasting away all that disgusting mould, so you can just take out all the plates and stuff in the pantry so we can give it a good wipedown."

"I thought I was supposed to tell _you_ how I want my house cleaned," he said, looking up at the ceiling.

"And I'm supposed to believe that you can do that better than me?" she snorted, throwing him an apron of his own. "Get real and get started, or we'll never be done."

Gary looked down at the pink piece of cloth in his hands in disgust. "What is _this_?" he demanded, staring self-riteously at her. "I'm not going to wearing a pink apron. At least get me that blue one over there."

"Fine," Misty sighed, catching the pink bundle he tossed at her and giving him a blue one in exchange. "I thought it would be a good incentive for you to finish cleaning as soon as possible if you were wearing something you normally wouldn't touch with a five-foot pole."

"You, Misty," he announced as he struggled to tie the apron strings behind his back, "are one strange, strange person."

"Hey! You're the one who invited me," she shot back. "Now come on and get started."

She headed into the bathroom to release her Staryu and Starmie, asking them to do this as a favour for her, and they readily agreed and started blasting. She shut the door behind her and went back towards the kitchen, but stopped before she reached it and watched Gary work. It was odd seeing him actually concentrating on doing something other than training and battling Pokemon or picking up girls, and it, surprisingly, was a good look for him. Misty found herself gradually getting absorbed in staring at his handsome face and watching his wirily muscled arms as they lifted plates and bowls out of the pantry and onto the nearby table.

Unfortunately she was soon caught in the act when he finished and looked up to see her lurking by the doorway. His expression changed from one of suspicion to a smirk when she blushed heavily in shock and nearly jumped. "Were you watching me?" he bluffed. He didn't know if she did, or if she'd just paused before entering the room, but it was so fun teasing her. "I'm not Ash, you know, you shouldn't be doing that."

He seemed to have struck a nerve, because her face turned stony and she huffed as she pushed past him into the kitchen. "Oh, please. Don't flatter yourself. You just gave me a shock when you looked up, that's all. Anyway, take this and start scrubbing the pantry," she said and shoved a cloth into his face so she could have some time to cool off. "I'll spray the tiles around the sink with some anti-mould stuff."

Gary was impressed by her quick diversion of the topic and after rubbing his mouth from where she'd mashed the dirty cloth into his face, turned to slowly clean the pantry he'd just emptied. As he did so, his eyes occasionally strayed in boredom and he found himself looking at Misty as she sprayed and wiped the tiled area around the sink. _So fast_, he marveled. Not to be sexist, but women really were better at these kinds of things.

Soon they'd finished the kitchen and moved on to the laundry and the few closets that were scattered around the studio apartment. Misty checked up on her Pokemon and found they had done a brilliant job, so she fed them some treats with a promise of more later before putting them back into their Pokeballs. Finally, they were down to Gary's room. For some reason Misty felt an odd pang when she saw his bed and tried not to look at it. She found it hard to imagine that she'd actually spent a night in that bed - and with _him_ in it too. It was wrong for her on nearly all levels but she had remembered it had been a good night's sleep, surprisingly without mysterious groping or man-handling of any kind.

But, for the sake of her unwanted formings of a crush on him, it would be better if she conveniently forgot about it.

Misty started vacuuming the wooden floor, while Gary considered his work done and flopped onto his bed to read a magazine. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and grinned. "Wanna join me?" he asked teasingly when she neared him.

"Join you in what? Reading porno magazines?" she returned innocently as she vehemently shoved the vacuum under his low bed in an attempt to get to the dust underneath it. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't be shy, Misty," he said coyly as he moved over and patted the space on the bed next to him. "You're no stranger to my bed now."

"If only you knew how awful and wrong that sounded," she muttered as she moved away. Then again, she seriously doubted that he didn't know what he was implying.

He chuckled and splayed himself all over the bed again. "Well, can't say I didn't try."

She wondered if he got his kicks out of taunting her. And why did he have to do it now, just when she needed it the least? It was unhealthy to give her mind any indication that Gary might be interested in her whereas Ash seemed totally oblivious to her feelings. She _had_ to nip her crush on him in the roots. Thankfully, this would probably be the last time they would have to see each other, and after that she would focus her attention back on Ash. Good old clueless Ash...

"I'm done here," Misty announced after checking the place out. It was almost spotless and she couldn't help but feel a little pride in the transformation she'd helped bring on. She untied her apron and folded it up before tucking it back where she'd found it. "That's my favour repaid. Now you can't bother me anymore. Hah."

Gary looked around himself and grudgingly admitted that she'd done an impressive job. "Hmph. Not bad. Of course, you couldn't have done it without me."

"Yeah, whatever you say," she sing-songed as she made sure she didn't leave anything behind and then headed out the door, waving goodbye.

He followed her out and watched from the balcony as she went down the stairs to his left and unlocked her bicycle, which had been secured around a pole. Interestingly enough, he felt like he'd actually had some fun doing his spring cleaning with her and a small but determined part of him was soundly sore to see her go, knowing they probably wouldn't see each other like this again anytime soon. He shook his head. There it was again - that annoying part of him that had caused him to let her sleep over, made him want to drive her home, and urged him to wipe that spot of blood from her mouth yesterday.

Sigh. He needed a rest. And maybe after he woke up he could sort out what was going on in his own head.

xxxxxx

The days following the spring clean passed quickly and Misty found herself getting back to her old schedule - her morning coffee and battling trainers at the gym in the day, and coming home to a hot bath at night. It was comforting to get back into routine and she welcomed the return of normalcy to her life. A week after the amusement park trip, Ash had knocked on her door and presented her with a bouquet of flowers as an apology for being so thick during their 'date'. Misty had been thrilled and hugged him tightly, but inside she supposed that he probably still didn't really understand what he was apologizing for and had only brought her the flowers by May's advice.

She had tried to keep Gary out of her head by keeping herself busy, but he would always creep back into her mind when her schedule lulled, which was usually at night. More than once during her nightly bath she would remember his first intrusion, and almost hoped he'd go get himself wasted so he could 'accidentally' do it again. Her little crush on Gary, which was supposed to have subsided by now, was still going strong, if not stronger than ever. His reception to people's feelings couldn't be described as sensitive, but he was a whole lot better than Ash at picking up her subtle actions and reactions; this in turn made her start to resent Ash's stony idiocy. It wasn't that Ash was cold-hearted - he was far from it, in fact - but he was just unusually naïve in the love department. So much so that even May had confided in her eventually that she was getting nowhere with giving him hints, and things could only be moved out of this stalemate if Misty confessed her feelings to him so that he knew what was going on in her head once and for all.

However, Misty didn't feel like she should tell him right now, with her feelings being in such a loophole. Ash and Gary were like two magnetic forces on her, in opposite directions, and she couldn't break out of their hold on her. Whenever she thought about Gary she would start guilt-tripping herself into moving her train of thought to Ash, but eventually she would remember the amusement park trip and would start comparing the two boys, which would then inevitably lead her back to thinking about Gary. It was a confusing process, but it was constantly going on within her mind and made thinking in general quite difficult and weary.

She decided to wait a few more weeks and see what would happen. With some luck, the 'Gary rush' would fade and she would finally be able to stop being so indecisive. And she would finally get over him too.

xxxxxx

Gary spent the same few weeks getting reaquainted with the town. He hadn't been back in over a year and some things had definitely changed. To make up for his lack of battling, and therefore lack of an income, he took up working at his grandfather's lab to earn his money the hard way. At the same time, this gave him a chance to spend some time with all his Pokemon, not just the ones he used the most, and really get to know their strong and weak points.

In between his job and checking out the area with his friends, he went out with a string of willing girls - none of them catching his particular interest. He realized he was starting to unconsciously measure them up against a certain someone; was she cuter when she smiled, was she a better Pokemon trainer (and therefore they could have a hobby in common), was she more witty? In the end he stopped bothering to flirt back with any of the girls that approached him and decided he should either get Misty out of his head or claim her as his.

As the days went on the latter option was starting to seem like the easier one. The redhead staunchly refused to exit his thoughts permanently and often, just when it seemed like she was finally gone, something would remind him of her and he would be right back where he started.

It was funny - he didn't even notice that he was starting to enjoy her company more than he should have back when she was around. It was only when he thought hard about it afterwards that he decided that he must like her, and in _that_ way. This seemed completely abnormal for him, because he hadn't remembered feeling that way about her before; it must have been the fact that she used to be around Ash 24/7 and was so much on his side that he'd sort of forgotten that she wasn't actually part of Ash, but was a personality all on her own.

The few days they'd spent together, mostly on their own, had revealed her as a person to him and he found that he was rather attracted to this person that he had never acknowledged before.

He decided that he would have to do something about it. After all, he was never one to sit around waiting for something to happen, and he seriously doubted that Misty would initiate anything with him.

See? He already knew that much about her.

**xxxxxx**

Hum ho! I feel like my vocabulary has increased for this chapter, which made it seem a bit different from its predecessors to me. Nevertheless, please enjoy, as I have a feeling that this fic is coming to an end soon. Ohoho.

Reviews make me very happy. :D


	8. Anxiety and a Conclusion

**Sugar and Spice**

**A/N:** Back to the fanfiction scene! Unfortunately I returned a bit late, seeing when this was last updated... -Cries in shame-

xxxxxx

**Chapter Eight**

xxxxxx

Misty glanced at her watch. It was just past 6pm, and her stomach grumbled loudly as if to remind her that it had been empty since morning. She locked up the gym after double-checking that she hadn't somehow forgotten about any trainers, and hopped on her bike. She was too tired to bother attempting another epic cooking session at home, and she _had_ been meaning to try that new burger bar in town for a while...

She arrived at the bar half an hour later and locked her bike up outside. It was a busy night in town, and it was some time before she got to the counter and ordered her dinner. Thankfully most of the people there wanted takeout, so she was able to secure herself a table where she proceeded to unwrap her burger and start eating ravenously, ignoring the stares of the people nearby.

A few moments later, as she reached for her drink to wash down the lump of burger that was refusing to go down, she realized that she had company.

"You should really project a more ladylike image if you're trying to woo a guy," May said, daintily picking up a fry from Misty's tray.

"May? What are you doing here?" the redhead choked out, thumping herself on the chest.

May shrugged. "Coincidence. But just as well. I wanted to say something."

Misty's mind turned as she tried to predict what was coming. _Misty, your butt looks huge in those pants. Misty, aren't you on a diet? Oh yeah, Misty, I heard somebody pounding on the door of your gym when I went past it just now. You should probably go back and check it out._

"Misty, this is what you should do," said the brunette, leaning across the table dramatically. She paused for effect. "Forget Ash, and go out with Gary."

"_Huh?_" yelled Misty, nearly choking a second time.

All the thoughts of Gary she'd been stuffing to the back of her mind for the past few weeks now flowed back full-force. The little to no thought she had been giving Ash was easily swept aside. Although the fact that May had noticed their interaction and decided they were a good couple sped up Misty's heartrate, she was still reluctant to put too much thought and hope into it. Gary was quite unattainable for her, if past events told her anything. She hadn't tried, but she didn't really want to get hurt before anything even happened between them - again.

Most of all, she was a little wary of May's sudden change in ideas. "What happened with Ash? I've pretty much given up on him, but weren't _you_ the one who was the most pumped up about us getting together?" she asked suspiciously, sipping her soft drink.

May looked a little sheepish. "Well you're better than me. I've _completely_ given up on him. There's no way he'll ever come around, at least not now." She coughed. "I've seen the light. Gary is the way to go, trust me."

Her words served not only to make Misty _not_ trust her idea, but to deepen her suspicion. "I see what you mean about Ash, but your sudden preference of Gary is a little unsettling." _Did he persuade you to do this?_ she wanted to ask, but didn't want to look egotistical by suggesting that he could possibly like her enough to get her friend to convince her. In truth her heart was pounding a little at the notion that he _could_ have asked May to do this. It wasn't that far-fetched an idea. She fought to keep it from showing in the form of a blush on her face.

"Ah," the brunette said. "It's not really that sudden. Remember who told you to invite him to the amusement park? I've seen you two together plenty of times, and I'm telling you girl, there is _chemistry_ at work here. Maybe too much, which is what put you off him. But you can't deny it's there."

"You don't have a crush on Ash too, do you?" Misty asked, surprised at how easily that came out. And how little jealousy went with it. _Am I really getting over him?_ She could hardly believe how simple it had been.

"Huh? No! No, no no," May exclaimed, emphasizing every 'no' with increasingly shocked expressions. "I have no idea how you came up with that. I mean, no offence, I know he's a good guy and all, seeing how much you liked him, but he's not exactly my type."

That was true. She had seen May's 'type', and Ash would be a total outcast among them. Still, she wasn't entirely convinced May was simply doing this of her own will. May loved matchmaking, but she had never advised anyone outright to go out with someone before.

It was clear that the situation warranted some snooping. Considering how Ash probably still didn't realize she liked him, Misty thought it was unlikely he would have asked May to subtly put her off him in order to preserve their friendship. And with the way May was going on about Gary, she wondered if Gary had possibly blackmailed her friend into patching up the soiled impression of him in Misty's mind. She didn't want to be big-headed but that seemed the most likely answer at the moment.

With all that info in hand, she reluctantly decided that there was unfortunately no better place to start interrogating than Gary himself. It wouldn't be that hard, would it? It was only Gary, after all. She knew him - actually, she was surprised at how much she knew about him. She knew his house, she knew some things he liked and didn't like, and she thought she might know a decent amount about the guy himself. She also knew what kind of dirty magazines he appeared to favor, but that was beside the point. The point was that the more she knew about him, the harder it was getting for her to find a reason to continue to dislike him. And that itself was becoming harder to hide.

"Misty! Are you listening to me or what?" May's voice cut into her thoughts crossly.

"Uh yeah, sorry," she said, dazed for a moment. "Carry on."

The brunette made a disgruntled noise. "I know you're totally into Ash and all, but you could at least cut out the daydreaming while I'm talking."

Misty blinked. _Daydream about Ash?_ It had been a while since she'd done that. "I wasn't daydreaming about him," she said.

May raised an eyebrow and a slow smile came onto her face. "Well, Gary then. Hoo boy, I didn't know you were this into him already!"

"Guhhh," Misty said, feeling her face go red. "I really wish you would stop that."

"It's true though, right?"

The color of Misty's cheeks was answer enough.

xxxxxx

Gary paced up and down his studio. _Would it work? Did May exert enough influence over her to convince her? _He felt he was being unnaturally anxious about the situation, but considering the people involved, perhaps his anxiety was well-placed.

His forceful measures, on the other hand, didn't register much with him. He had always been the type to know what he wanted, and then take appropriate actions to obtain it. Currently, the wanted item happened to be Misty. So he was doing what he could to get her. Granted, it would be no easy task to win her over, but somewhere in the recesses of his mind he knew that it wouldn't be very hard either. She was almost as good as won, from the looks of things.

He flipped on the TV, which happened to be playing the usual late night marathon of crappy action movies, and sunk himself into the couch. He checked his watch. It had been over two hours since he'd cajoled May into encouraging Misty to move on from Ash so that Gary could effectively make his move. He was expecting some kind of contact informing him of the results, but so far there had been no sign from his partner-in-crime. He sighed heavily and resigned himself to watching people roundhouse kick each other all night until he fell asleep.

The doorbell rang half an hour later, just when his eyelids were about to meet. Gary jolted awake, rubbed his eyes and stumbled to the door, almost tripping over furniture as he did so. He wrenched open the door, an annoyed retort at the tip of his tongue, but was shocked to find himself face to face with Misty herself. "... Uh," he said.

Misty blinked. "Good evening to you too. Can I come in?"

The firm hand she placed on the door gave him little choice in the matter, so he swung the door back to let her in. She stepped inside and immediately made for the couch. Gary scowled but made no comment, instead settling for the bar stool at his kitchenette.

There was a silence in which neither looked at the other. Gary could tell that she knew he had asked May to talk to her, and she knew that he knew it too. He stood and combed through the pantry. "Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?" he asked, by way of conversation.

"Hot chocolate. I still have to go to the gym tomorrow. Can't afford to have a sleepless night."

He made their beverages slowly, and eventually spoke again. "So. I guess you've met up with May."

Misty walked over to the kitchenette and sat down. "You're serious?" she asked incredulously.

"You think this is some kind of prank?"

"Not exactly, but it seems a little overboard for you. And why didn't you just come see me yourself?"

"I don't exactly have the authority to tell you who you should or shouldn't like."

She snorted. "As if that was ever an issue for you."

Gary cracked a smile and handed her her hot chocolate, which she accepted with a thanks. "Fine. Go out with me," he said, sipping his own coffee.

"Would we work out?" she responded, both piqued and amused by his nonchalant proposal. To be honest, she had expected a more romantic start to her first relationship. On the other hand, she hadn't expected her first relationship to be with Gary.

How many times had she run through this scene in her mind, with Ash? He would be shy, stuttering a little, but would be firm in his asking. And when she calmly agreed, he would beam at her, and she would scream in glee inside. And probably have a heart attack once she was alone.

At the moment Gary was neither shy nor stuttering, but she was pretty damn close to that heart attack. Keeping herself composed was proving to be a difficult task, but she persevered and eventually evened out her breathing and thoughts. _So it's all true. May was telling the truth when she said this wasn't one-sided for me._

Gary peered at her over his cup, and shrugged. "Worth a shot, right?"

Misty shook her head in disbelief. "This still feels unreal."

"I assure you you're not dreaming," he said.

"As if I'd dream about something like this. This isn't even part of my imagination. My imagination runs pretty far, but never _this_ far."

"Hah. So what's it gonna be? You still need more time to think? You still like Ash?" He was beyond caring what her answer was, as long as she got him out of this limbo of anticipation. Well, he cared, but he was sure that this waiting was worse than whatever answer she would give him.

She didn't answer for a long moment. "Come to the gym tomorrow at noon," she said finally, putting down her cup. "I promise I'll tell you then."

"Oh, for goodness sakes," he said, frustrated. "You're damn good at this cliffhanger game." He brushed a hand through his hair and sent a glare her way, which she returned with equal intensity. This went on for several minutes, until their eyes both hurt and they were blinking furiously between glares.

"I should probably take my leave now," she said when she felt her left eye start to twitch.

Gary muttered something under his breath about unreasonable women and shut the door with force as she left. Misty looked back and poked her tongue out as she got on her bike and pedalled down the driveway.

She already knew her answer. She just wanted to show a certain other person, that was all.

xxxxxx

The next day couldn't come fast enough for both of them. Misty hurried to her gym early, having organized what she needed to, and battled her opponents distractedly, much to the annoyance of her Pokemon. Before lunch she fussed over them a little to make up for it and then left them in the pool. She checked her watch. It was just about time.

At quarter past twelve, the gym doors burst open and Gary stalked in. "Well?" he demanded.

She was saved from having to answer by the arrival of her two other guests, May and Ash. May looked like she wished she'd brought along popcorn, while Ash looked totally nonplussed. "Hi Misty," he said, then spotted Gary. "Wait, what's _he_ doing here?"

Misty bid Gary to come closer and then glanced at May, who mouthed 'go for it'. The brunette grudgingly shuffled closer, and then in one swift movement Misty pulled him to her by his shirt and planted a kiss on his lips.

Time stood still for what seemed like an age before Gary got over the shock enough to respond.

"Misty?What are you _doing?_" Ash shrieked, his face draining of blood. He turned around wildly to look at May, who merely shrugged. "W-w-when did... _this_ happen? How come nobody told me?"

At the same time Misty was having great trouble prying herself from Gary, who seemed to be enjoying himself greatly. When she finally did so, she grabbed Gary's hand roughly - ignoring his wince of pain - and beamed at the others. "We're an item."

"I can see that," May said dryly, and Misty held in a torrent of laughter as Ash stared at Gary, then herself, then back again.

"Wh-what... the..." was all he managed to splutter.

May clucked her tongue and tugged on Ash's arm. "Come now, let's leave those two alone. You could at least have said a word of congratulations, or something! You can be so untactful sometimes, Ash. We really need to work on that..."

"I... they... Misty..." he gargled in reply, too shocked to resist being pulled towards the exit.

They were soon alone. Gary turned towards Misty, a slightly irritated look in his eyes. "Fighting to get through to him to the bitter end, eh?"

"I knew you would take it the wrong way." She grinned at him and sat back on a nearby stool.

"What's the right way to take it?"

"I was just showing Ash what he's going to be missing."

Gary started to smile. "You mean he's going to miss out on kissing me? He must be traumatized."

"You!" Misty said in frustration, which only made him smile wider. "Urgh. I'm starting to regret my decision already."

Gary laughed outright this time, and pulled her to her feet. "I think it's a bit late to back out now," he said, his mouth an inch from hers. "Don't you?"

It wasn't as if Misty could answer, anyway.

**xxxxxx**

Finally... freakin'... done... Review if you like, I'm just happy to have this done so that I can move onto my next story. Which might be quite a long way coming, considering the other fanfiction stuff I have going on (i.e. fanfic100).

Thanks to everyone for reading and patiently waiting (or not) for this story to update/end. :D


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